The Hunt Begins
by Inkoholic4U
Summary: Below the surface of Bouvetoya Island, Elaina will have to survive the horrors within the Pyramid. With the help of a Predator, she just might make it out alive. Let the Hunt Begin! Celtic/OC Completed.
1. Prologue

Part One

The Hunt Begins

Prologue:

_**Location Unknown  
**__**October 10**__**th**__** 2004**_

The cold stone structure beneath her was the first thing Elaina noticed, when she woke up. It was icy to the touch and the biting chill it created numbed the side of her face that was pressed against the cold surface. The ground she laid on was rough and grainy beneath her, not a smooth clean surface she expected after a long night of drinking at her friend's house. This wouldn't have been the first time she woke up on her friend's kitchen floor.

The next thing she became aware of was that the air she breathed in had a stale stench to it, like an old musty room that had been closed off for years. It wasn't a very pleasant smell but one that had her wrinkling her nose in disgust.

When Elaina tried to move, she moaned as the aches and pains in her body came back to her in a rush, reminding her that she had been recently injured. It felt like a freight train had slammed into her and then had proceeded to back up over her, before deciding to run her over one more time for good measure. There wasn't a spot on her that didn't hurt in some way. Even her hair ached tenderly near her scalp.

_What the hell hit me, _she groaned. Very little noise escaped her lips as she struggled to just breathe without moving too much.

The pain reminded her of that time her mother had backed into her with the jeep last summer. Elaina had been walking behind the car when her mother had decided to back it out of the driveway. It had been an accident, but that didn't mean it hadn't hurt or that her father hadn't been furious when he heard about the incident. Luckily for her, her mother had stopped as soon as she hit Elaina and hadn't actually run her over completely. The impact though had fractured her pelvis and bruised a few of her ribs, from where she had connected with the tailgate. This pain felt a lot like that.

Elaina lay there, barely breathing as her ears strained to hear anything. It was scary quiet, minus the drip drip sound coming from somewhere behind her. Forcing her eyes to open so that she could see where she was, she was first greeted with darkness.

_Oh god I'm blind-_ she was on the verge of panicking but a few shuddering pain filled breaths kept her from completely freaking out. _Don't panic, don't panic, breathe, just breathe-_

Elaina blinked her eyes a few times and forced her body to sit up from where she had been curled up on the floor. Rubbing her eyes, she looked around her again but still found it hard to see. Squinting, she searched the shadows for something familiar. It took her eyes a few minutes to adjust to the darkness around her and she was able to make out some vague shapes in the distance. There didn't seem to be any lights or lamps anywhere. Nothing on the walls or the ceiling above her to help discern shapes in the darkness, to give her a better idea as to where she was. It looked like she was in a basement, maybe? The floor and walls were made of some kind of stone and she could feel its rough surface beneath her. Standing next to her, there was pillar that went all the way up to the ceiling and there appeared to be some kind of writing or drawings decorating the sides. Other than that she couldn't see much of anything else.

Elaina swallowed the building hysteria as she looked around her. Where was everyone? And just where the hell was she?

Elaina used the pillar that was near her to help her to her feet. The chill in the air had settled all the way into her bones, making them creak when she tried to move. By the time she managed to get herself into a standing position, she was out of breath and using the pillar for support.

The fingers of her left hand ached right down to the bone and she looked down at it, curiously. The cold surface of the pillar was cold to the touch and she now realized why. Her glove was missing. The bitter air seemed to cool several degrees with this new realization. With shaking hands she searched her jacket pocket and found the second pair of gloves the guide had instructed her to pack back on the ship.

Elaina laughed a little bitterly, recalling the smart–ass comment she had given the older woman about being ordered around. Tears filled her eyes and Elaina wiped them away angrily. She would not allow herself to cry over something so pathetic as being mean to someone who had probably just saved her from getting frostbite. Quickly she regloved her left hand and rubbed the numb limb up and down her leg to bring back some feeling into her frozen fingers.

Feeling a little bit better now, Elaina looked up from her hands to inspect the room she had woken up in_._ Her eyes searched her surroundings wondering just how long she might have been unconscious for. She hadn't thought to pack a watch and there didn't appear to be any windows to tell her if it was night of day outside.

There was no answer for her silent questions among the walls. Turning her inspection onto herself, she checked herself for injuries. Most of her pain seemed superficial, as her ribs felt a little bruised and her chin was a little tender to the touch. The worst injury she found was the bruise around her left wrist. It was a deep bluish purple, indicating it was pretty fresh. It wrapped all the way around her wrist and was tender to the touch. When she tried to rotate her wrist, she had to bite back a sob as pain shot up along her arm, nearly taking her breath away. There was a good chance that it was sprained. Elaina couldn't remember how she had received the bruise, but it was there nonetheless.

A slithering sound had Elaina jerking her head up, focusing all of her senses to her surroundings once more. Weariness weighed heavily on her shoulders, causing nausea to rise up in her throat. That sound alone was enough to turn her stomach. In the darkness, she couldn't see much farther than a few feet in front of her.

Without moving, Elaina vainly searched her surroundings wondering why her heart felt like it wanted to tear its way out of her chest. Fear had her body trembling. What was out there in the darkness watching her?

A hissing sound had her whirling around to face the noise. Her eyes darted around trying to find its source. She hated snakes as they slithered around and were scaly and gross. The hiss seemed to echo off the walls surrounding her. It was almost like it was coming from all around her. Despite the deceiving echoes, her eyes were frozen to the spot in front of her. Fear held her captive.

In the darkness something moved but her eyes couldn't make out exactly what it was. The poor lighting kept her from really seeing it as it's body stretched from where it had been crouched. With her heart leaping to her throat, Elaina took a terrified step back.

_Oh god what is that?_

* * *

**AN: Well there you have it, my first AVP story. I've read so many that I just had to try one out for myself. I hope you enjoyed the prologue :D I am looking for a Beta-reader, if you are interested, let me know :)**

**Please drop me a review, let me know if you Love/Like/Hate it, all are excepted.**

**Oh and in case any of you were wondering I dont own AVP or predators, as much as I would love to own one, I doubt they would approve. I do own Elaina though, as well as her crazy mother.**

**Well I am out of here, Happy Holidays, party hardy!**

**Inky out**


	2. Chapter One

Chapter one:

**_New York City, New York  
Dad's Apartment  
October 4th, 2004_**

"What," Elaina Ann Weyland exploded after her father informed her of their plans for the next several weeks. At her sides, her hands clenched and unclenched as her temper started to get the best of her. "You can't be serious."

"Elaina," her father responded with a warning tone in his voice. Seeing that arguing with her would get him nowhere, he took in a deep breath and let it out slowly to rein in his own temper. He knew that look on his daughter's face as he had seen it many times in himself.

"You know exactly why-" he started to explain in a more even tone but was cut off before he could get his point across.

"Why can't I just stay here," Elaina argued with the man standing in front of her. "I'm eighteen Dad. I'm old enough to stay home by myself."

Elaina cocked her hip to the side with her right hand propped against it. It was something she had seen her mother do when she was upset and it always seemed to help her get what she wanted. But Elaina wasn't her mother and those ploys didn't seem to work on her father anymore. Elaina glared at the older man and had to tilt her head back some as her father was nearly six feet tall and towered over her even with his wiry frame. Her father was tall and lengthy, with thinning reddish blonde hair with specs of silver running through it. He was in his mid-fifties but was still considered handsome for his age or at least that is what the tabloids said and Elaina could see it, but she considered herself a little biased in the matter.

Elaina stood in the large open foyer of her dad's huge penthouse apartment in New York City. While she had called it home, it was anything but a home to her. It was her father's home or at least the home he bought after the messy divorce ten years ago. There was nothing homey about the apartment with its stark white walls and beige carpet. Everything was so clean and tidy all the time because he had house keepers who would come in every day to clean up any clutter and hide all traces of the people lived here. There were some expensive pictures that decorated the walls in rich mahogany frames but they just made the place look more like an art gallery instead of accenting the plain white walls. The little furniture in the foyer with them was a small narrow table with a beautiful flower arrangement decorating its surface. It had been a gift from one of her father's clients or maybe his secretary had ordered them for him as a welcome home gift for Elaina.

The foyer they stood in connected the living room and the kitchen, making it seem like it was all just one big room. Like a studio apartment but much larger in size and grandeur. Everything was white and sterile looking, including the plush loveseat and matching chairs. The only homey vibe one could get when walking into the apartment was the few picture frames hanging on one wall, all cluttered in one spot near the fake fireplace and they mostly consisted of Elaina when she was younger. It was the only personal items in the apartment minus what could be found in their individual bedrooms.

"-Because you are my daughter," was his exasperated reply. "While you live under my roof you will follow my rules."

Elaina gritted her teeth and her eyes narrowed some. "You mean when I'm not living under mom's roof," was her snide remark. Sure, dad paid for mom's roof but Elaina wasn't going to be the one to bring up that can of worms, not when she was desperate to win this argument.

Charles Bishop Weyland pressed his lips into a thin line of contempt at his daughter's snide remark. There were times when his daughter was too spoiled for her own good. Unfortunately it was probably too late to do anything about it. If he didn't give her what she wanted then her mother got it for her, which in the end was coming out of his own pocket anyway.

He paid his wife thousands of dollars in alimony after the divorce, plus what he paid in child support for Elaina. His wife had never worked a day in her life and with how much money he had to fork over each month, she never would have to for the rest of her life. He had fought his wife tooth and nail to get more visitation rights after the divorce so that he see his daughter more and it had been one epic battle after another. There were times when Daphne pitted their daughter against him, manipulating their child into thinking he didn't want her around. He hadn't realized until it was too late what his neglect had done to his daughter and he hoped one day he could rectify those mistakes, if only she would give him the chance. He was hoping this trip could be a step in that direction, even if the choice to bring her along had been taken out of his hands.

Now that Elaina was eighteen and Daphne no longer received any child support, his ex-wife was more than willing to ship their daughter off on him every chance she got these days. Elaina was fresh out of high school and hadn't decided which college she wanted to go to right now. She was planning on taking a year off from school to figure out what she would do with her life and was still living at home with her mom in the meantime. Charles didn't have to pay child support until she started going to college. Until then, Daphne didn't get as much money from him and found every inopportune time to hand Elaina off on him.

His ex-wife knew good and well that he was going out of the country for a few weeks, but that didn't stop her from flying their daughter up from Florida to his front doorstep. Finding Elaina there just a few days ago had surprised him, when really it shouldn't have. That was just how malicious his ex-wife could be and what Daphne wanted, Daphne got.

Charles sighed out loud, his hand coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose in agitation. He really did not need this right now. For the last few days he had spent arguing with his ex-wife and the last thing he wanted was to argue with Elaina on top of that. It only seemed to stretch the rift between them more and more.

Opening his eyes, he studied his daughter thoughtfully. As she had gotten older, Elaina looked more and more like her mother with her slight frame and curvy figure. She had her mother's long auburn hair and her blue eyes. He wondered sometimes if the reason why he had become so hard on his daughter over the last few years was because of how much she resembled him of his ex-wife. He hoped that wasn't the reason. He hoped that he just wanted to prepare her for the harsh adult world out there but not even he could kid himself on that one.

While his daughter may look like Daphne in her beauty and figure, their personalities were complete opposites. Daphne was cruel and vindictive in her needs and wants. His ex-wife was very needy towards men and the comforts of life. Elaina on the other hand had her father's stubbornness and was quite independent for her age. He was quite proud of her for those traits and he could actually see himself in his daughter when her attitude got the best of her and her temper flared. It was all well and good until she turned that attitude on him and he just found himself exasperated. Just as he was right now with her. She was being unreasonable in his opinion.

"I am old enough to make my own choices," Elaina whined, her bottom lip jutting out as she tried a different tactic on him. She was pulling all the stops it seemed. "Why do I have to be punished because you and mom can't work out your schedules? I don't want to go to some stupid Island in Antarctica."

Elaina was disgusted with her parents. She couldn't remember a time when things had ever been happy at home. When they had been married and they all lived under the same roof, her parents fought constantly. Her father was hardly ever home and yet they found time to scream at each other when he was. He was always busy with something or another while running Weyland Industries. Her mother had wild affaires that she didn't bother to hide from her husband and would spend money on new clothes, makeovers, breast implants and all sorts of other beauty enhancements.

Her mother put her own needs before everyone else's and her father was just a plain old workaholic that never had time for his family.

To make up for not being there for her, her father gave her everything she ever wanted. Whether it was toys, new clothes, jewelry or even extravagant summer vacations, she got it all. Neither of her parents ever seemed to have time for her when she was younger. They only gave her the time of day just long enough to give her a gift to shut her up and then they were off living their lives without her. When Elaina was eight, she was more than relieved when they divorced. Sure the idea of her parent's divorcing had hurt but now when she did get to spend time with them it wasn't filled with a never ending argument.

All Elaina really wanted was for her parents to actually love her. Did her father ever go with her to all those trips she took, all the summer and spring break vacations he paid for? Not once. Not even when her parents were still married. Her father never made it to any of the family vacations they took.

Sure the _'Terminator' _went, playing babysitter to her time and time again. He was more of a father figure to her in a very annoying way than her own father had ever been. Terminator was the Arnold Schwarzenegger wanna-be bodyguard her father hired for her when she was a kid. At the age of seven she had thought it was pretty cool until she found out that he spoke very little to no English, wore his sunglasses even indoors and he never smiled.

Talk about boring.

Elaina briefly looked over at the bodyguard she had just been thinking about. He stood just to the side of her, watching the epic battle between father and daughter with a serious expression on his face. Did the man even know how to smile? He hadn't aged much in appearance over the years. He was still scary huge, even now that she had grown up a bit in height. She wasn't a kid anymore. She was 5'6 and he still towered over her, making her feel awfully tiny in comparison.

Elaina called him Terminator because he had a worse name then even Arnold Schwarzenegger and she couldn't pronounce it to save her life. He didn't seem to mind the nickname though. She used to call him 'Hey You', until she watched the first Terminator movie when she was eight. He probably found the name to be a compliment.

"Fine," her father said suddenly, causing her attention to flicker away from tall, dark and just annoying, back to the argument she had been having with her father.

_Wait a minute_, Elaina thought suspiciously. Her father never caved in so easily. Sure she could guilt trip him into buying her a new dress or a new pair of earrings. That was easy, but her father never let her stay home by herself. All because some protesters didn't like her father's Corporation and had sent a few threatening letters that had included her torture and dismemberment. _Like whatever-_ But it had her father hiring her three bodyguards when she was seven years old. By the time she was thirteen, she had convinced him to reduce it to just the one. Try making friends when everyone is intimidated by your entourage to and from school every day.

"If you stay, then I'll just have Malcolm and Erin will stay with you as well," her father said and it wasn't hard to notice the satisfied smile that wanted to stretch out across his weathered face.

Elaina drew herself up to her full height, which wasn't much and twisted her lips into abject horror. While Terminator was relatively quiet and she could easily forget he was even there, Malcolm and Erin were the exact opposite. Erin was always trying to play 'Sisters' with her and Malcolm could make nails on a chalkboard seem pleasant. The man never knew when to shut the hell up.

"Well," her father inquired when she had yet to say anything about his offer.

"That is not fair," Elaina argued weakly, knowing she had lost this battle. Her father knew how much she hated Erin and Malcolm. It had taken her years to get him to have them reassigned. There was no way in hell she would go three weeks with them under the same roof as herself ever again. Not if she could help it.

"It is for your protection Elaina, fairness has nothing to do with it," her father replied seriously and she knew suddenly that nothing she did or said would get him to change his mind.

_Why did he suddenly have to start caring now,_ she wanted to know. She was eighteen years old, she wasn't a baby anymore and yet he was treating her like one.

"Fine," she said through gritted teeth.

Elaina was supposed to be in her mother's Florida home enjoying the warmer weather in her bikini and flirting with the local studs on the beach for the next three weeks. But instead, her mother had decided she wanted to go on a cruise with her new boy toy, a lifeguard who was about Elaina's age.

Jacque or whatever his name was, was her mother's latest fling. The fact that Elaina had introduced them after meeting him on the beach was enough to sour Elaina's mood. But now because of it, she was stuck spending the next three weeks in one of the coldest places on Earth.

_Bouvetoya Island._

"Then it's settled," her father said as he turned on his heels. "Start packing, we leave tomorrow morning."

Elaina huffed, watching as her father walked away. Behind her, Terminator actually snickered beneath his breath. _Well I'll be damned, _she thought. Glowering, Elaina turned her sharp gaze to the tall hulk who shadowed her everywhere she went. He straightened up at her look, his lips pressing into a thin line as he struggled not to laugh at her expense.

"I wouldn't be laughing Terminator," she said to him, just a tad bit nastily. At his questioning look she added, "Because, that means you're coming too."

With that, she turned on her heels and stalked off towards her room. The pained look on her bodyguard's face had a small satisfied smile curling the corner of her lips.

_Misery loves company._

* * *

**_Ice Breaker- Piper Maru  
Current Heading: Bouvetoya Island  
October 7th, 2004_**

After the past forty-eight hours, Elaina found herself jetlagged and more irritable than usual. Between being shuffled from cars, planes and a helicopter, while listening to her father argue with people on his cell phone, Elaina was more than ready to rip the head off of the next person who annoyed her even in the slightest bit. Her only companions for the trip were her I-Phone, Terminator and her father's deaf ear. For the several hours that she was in the air she spent her time listening to her music or sleeping.

Almost two days later, Elaina found herself on a large ship called the Piper Maru, with the batteries to her I-Phone long dead and no way to charge it. No one had bothered to tell her that she wouldn't be able to charge the device, because there weren't any normal outlets anywhere on the ship. Had someone been unwise enough to tell her, she would have raised more hell with her father or at least conserved the battery life a little better. Or better yet brought an adapter that could convert to the weird looking outlets she had found in her room.

"Look I don't want to be here anymore than you do," Elaina told the Terminator from over her shoulder.

At that very moment he was giving her a look that could kill as they stood out in the frigid cold on the deck of a large ship. Apparently, Terminator had been looking forward to the Florida weather as much as she had been.

The Piper Maru was slowly making its way through the ice to their destination, an Island long since abandoned and probably forgotten about as it was in the middle of nowhere. It shouldn't have surprised her that her father had conveniently left everybody he gathered here for this little adventure in the dark. Charles Weyland was a paranoid man like that.

While he was down below debriefing everyone on their destination, Elaina had made herself scarce. In her search of something to do, she found herself out on the deck. The sight outside was beautiful she had to admit to herself, not that she would ever tell her father that. Any positive interest on her part and her father would never let her live it down. He might start making her go out on more of his business trips and she didn't want that. Not if they all took him to the middle of nowhere, where the closest civilization was thousands of miles across an ocean covered in ice. Talk about being alienated.

Elaina preferred being the cynical and pessimistic angst teenager that she was and liked it that everyone saw her as such. She was never disappointed that way. She had plenty of disappointment growing up with her parents. Neither of them had been very good at keeping the promises they made. They were always promising to be there for her dance recitals or school functions when she was a little girl. How many times had she sat outside her school waiting and wondering if her parent's would remember to pick her up this time?

_I promise sweetie, I promise, I promise, I promise-. _

Years of broken promises had made her very jaded towards life and towards people with their so called promises. It was probably around the same time her parents divorced that she stopped asking for them to promise her anything anymore.

Elaina hugged herself, relishing in her thick insulated jacket she had donned while in the helicopter. New York might have been miserable and rainy but its weather was nothing compared to this. She couldn't begin to guess what the temperature was but it was cold enough to make her bones ache even with the many layers of clothing she had on. Under her father's strict instructions she had put on several layers as a precaution. Because in Antarctica, in the middle of freaking nowhere, one could never know what might happen.

The coat she wore wasn't very flattering but it kept her relatively warm and that was what counted out here. The gray overcoat she wore was one her father had given to her once they had landed on the ship earlier. At the collar, her favorite dark navy blue jacket peeked out over the folded grey collar. The dark color was much more flattering for her, but it was not exactly made to protect her from the harsh elements. The gloves that kept her hands warm, matched the jacket at least, giving her some sense of style.

The several layers she wore hid all of her flattering assets but it wasn't like she wanted to impress the locals. She doubted there were any cute guys crazy enough to be on this venture anyway. Plus she had seen some of the men that had arrived by helicopter over the past several hours. They were all way too old and had facial hair, not a major turn on for her. She wasn't looking for a daddy replacement. She got enough of that with Terminator and her father's sudden interest in being a dad.

Behind her, Terminator was grumbling about the cold in German. She didn't understand all that he said, but she heard her name mentioned in the string of words a couple of times. She had a feeling it wasn't the most flattering of statements. He resembled a giant Eskimo in his bushy fur-lined jacket. It was really quite funny seeing him trying to walk in all the layers of clothing he wore. She couldn't see him trying to protect her very well in that getup. But then with the foul mood he was in, he probably just shoot anyone who posed a threat without bothering to find out if they were a danger to her or not.

Elaina did her best to ignore him for now. Because as much as she despised his company, he was here against his will as much as she was and for once she felt like leaving him be, instead of antagonizing him like she would have normally. She walked ahead, stopping just short of the railing so that she could look over the side of the ship. It was kind of cool to watch the ice break and crumble under the ship's onslaught as it pushed forward in the ice. Who knew that the middle of nowhere could be kind of cool?

Hugging herself, Elaina pulled away from the edge. The last thing she needed was for Terminator to think she was going to jump. She remembered the last time she had looked over the edge of a railing, it had been while they were at the Space Needle in Seattle. Terminator had tackled some poor old lady who had moved up behind her to wait her turn at the binoculars. He had thought the old woman was going to try and push her over the railing, because little old ladies were devious like that.

That incident alone had been embarrassing enough for her when she was younger that she hadn't stayed anywhere near ledges or sharp objects any longer than necessary. With how vocal she had been over her displeasure to come on this trip, she would not put it pass him to fear she might consider jumping.

_Yea right- _but then he wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.

Instead, Elaina turned her focus to the lights that lit up the dark sky. She had never seen anything quite like it and felt herself entrapped by its beauty. Elaina was so captured by the lights that she didn't hear the person sneaking up behind her.

"Enjoying the view?"

"Jesus Christ," Elaina gasped, whirling around to find Max Stafford standing behind her. The older man smirked as if he found the idea of startling her amusing. Behind them, Terminator glared beneath the hood of his jacket. The only sign of his displeasure was the slight narrowing of his eyes, the only visible part of his body since he was wrapped up like a mummy.

Glaring at the handsome black man, Elaina crossed her arms over her chest before turning her back to him, to express her annoyance. She wasn't really that annoyed with him but she could at least make him think that for a little while longer. He deserved that much for scaring her.

Max was an old family friend, one of the few people her father worked with that she actually liked. Her father usually hired him as a hired gun, her father's own personal bodyguard when he felt he needed one.

The nicest thing about Max was his British accent that she found sexy as hell, despite the fact that he was old enough to be her dad. She never could stay mad at him for very long. All he had to do was say something in that accent of his and her knees would go all weak and she'd get this silly look on her face and agree to everything he had to say. She was a real sucker for accents.

"Like there is anything else to do around here," Elaina said bitterly, tilting her chin up a little bit. She was the pampered princess everyone made her out to be and she had a reputation to uphold. She might as well play the part.

"Of course there is Elli," Max said, using the nickname she preferred people to call her and bumped his shoulder against hers. "Whether you find them interesting- well that is a different matter entirely."

Elaina pursed her lips together, trying not to smile but failed at keeping it hidden.

"There's the Elli I know," Max said, bending down to catch sight of the smile. "It's not as bad as you're making it out to be, is it?"

Elaina sighed out loud, her hands falling to her sides. "No," she said with a small pout. "But don't tell my dad that, otherwise he'll start dragging me to all of these business trips of his."

"It will be our little secret," Max said with a slight chuckle. He leaned forward then, resting his forearms against the railing and his eyes staring out to the horizon. Elaina watched him from the corner of her eyes wondering what he was thinking about. He seemed so lost in thought that she didn't want to interrupt him anymore with her complaining. Instead she decided to just study him, not even bothering to hide the fact that she was appraising him so openly.

Max was dressed in a jacket similar to hers, while it was still hideous, it didn't look half bad on him. He was tall and slender looking, which belied just how strong he really was. She knew he was very capable of handling himself in a fight. Knew that under all his layers of clothes that we was probably ripped and sporting a six pack at least but it looked better on his slender form, than on Terminator's more bulging muscular frame. Plus Max had nice dark mocha colored skin that was really flattering. _A black British guy is kind of hot_. Elaina found him attractive, but she didn't have a daddy complex and Max saw her much like a daughter. _No way would that ever work out._ _If only he was about twenty years younger-_

"The briefing it over now, you can come inside where it's warmer. Maybe pack your bag," he offered turning his gaze over to her and interrupting her thoughts. Elaina blinked and tilted her head up to lock her eyes with his. He was staring down at her, ever so proper.

"Dad must've sent you out here to find me," Elaina hazard a guess. "It's okay," she added quickly when she saw him trying to deny it. "I'm used to it. What does he want anyway?"

Max chose to ignore the question and held out his arm to her. "Why don't I walk you back to your room," he offered with a small smile in her direction.

Elaina turned her gaze out at the horizon for a moment, her jaw clenched tight as she tried to not show how angry his evasiveness made her. It was pointless to let unleash her anger on Max as he didn't really deserve it. Hitting the railing with her open palms she sighed out loud through her teeth. She would rather stay outside and sulk in the freezing cold then do what she was told, she really hated giving in. But Max was being nice and she was quite aware that the older man could make her mind him much better than her father ever could. Even now, she knew Max was armed with a handgun hidden under his coat. Not that he would ever use it on her but he was rather persuasive with his presence alone. She had seen him take down the Terminator when her bodyguard had mistaken Max as a threat when they first met years ago. Watching her rather large bodyguard get taken down by a man half his size was truly awesome and terrifying all at the same time.

"I guess if I have too," Elaina finally relented and took the offered arm.

She let him steer her towards the door and he held it open for her once they reached it. Terminator was more than ready to go inside and helped usher her in. Elaina reluctantly entered the warm interior of the ship and into a narrow hallway that lead to a staircase and several doors on either side. Max was right behind her and the Terminator was quick to shut the door behind him.

Once inside, Elaina removed her gloves and stuffed them into the pocket of her outer jacket. With the door shut, the heat of the inside of the ship was nearly stifling. With a grumble she removed her outer jacket and felt marginally better with it off. Elaina tucked the jacket into the crook of her arm and looked over to her two companions. Max had removed his jacket as well, revealing the thick off-white turtleneck sweater and dark pants he wore underneath. Behind them, Terminator struggled to get out of his outerwear but seemed to be having trouble getting his arms out of the sleeves of his jacket.

Instead of waiting for her bodyguard to undress out of his outer layers, Elaina started walking down the hallway, already knowing the way to her room. She might as well try and take a shower and change before whatever her dad needed her for. She had barely made it to the stairs when Max called her to a stop.

"Elli," Max called, stopping her from her decent to the floor below. The rooms were all on the floor below deck and below them was the huge cargo bay where all the really cool equipment had been stored. She was kind of hoping she could guilt her dad into letting her drive one of the trucks once they got out onto the ice.

"Yea," she answered while looking back at him.

"You're father does wish to speak with you, when you get a moment," he informed her.

"Oh course he does," Elaina replied annoyed. "Tell him I'll stop by his office after my shower."

"Elaina," Max said warningly while using her full first name.

"Fine," she replied sarcastically. "I'll drop off my jacket and I'll be right there."

Max nodded and left her alone. He headed down the hallway to do whatever her father had really sent him to do.

Elaina continued down the stairs and followed the hallway to her room, which was near the end. She slipped inside and shut the door in the Terminator's face. Elaina tossed her jacket onto her bunk and headed to her suitcases. She wasn't exactly sure how long they were going to be on the ship for but she doubted she would be able to bring all of her luggage on the ice. Riffling through her bag, she tossed aside some clothes and looked for one of the candy bars she had packed.

"Oh thank god," she muttered catching sight of the Ziploc bag she had stuffed full of candy. She had a serious addiction for chocolate and couldn't go anywhere without it.

Opening the bag, Elaina sat on her bed as she searched the bag and pulled out a Twix bar at random. Tearing open the wrapper, she bit into the candy and ate it in silence. After she licked her fingers clean of the remnants of chocolate, she let out a sigh of pure contentedness. Wiping her hands on the pants of her legs she slowly stood and resealed her bag of candy.

Grabbing her backpack, she dumped everything out that she had stored in it. Mainly it had contained magazines, books and make-up. She rifled through the clothes she had dumped on her bed and repacked the backpack with a set of clean warm clothes, her cell phone, headphones and of course her bag of candy. Content with her packed items, she tossed the bag to a chair that sat next to the door and stuffed the rest of her things back into her suitcase. Zipping it shut, she dropped the bag to the ground and shoved it under the bed.

Satisfied, Elaina walked to the door and pulled it open. Terminator stood outside her room glaring down at her.

"Oh like you're not used to it by now," she commented while looking up at his towering form. She side stepped around him and headed in the direction of her father's office. It was on the other side of the ship and was a short five minute walk down a narrow corridor that veered sharply to the left at the end.

As she entered the hallway that lead to her father's office, she was nearly mowed over by an older black woman. The woman had long dark hair and dark brown eyes. The other woman's face was set into a frown as if something was troubling her, but Elaina was far too furious to notice.

"Hey," Elaina snapped pressing herself against the wall to avoid the collision.

"Sorry," the woman muttered but she didn't bother to look in Elaina's direction. Instead she headed around the corner without another word.

"Bitch," Elaina muttered, glaring after the woman.

"Elaina Ann Weyland," came her father's reprimanding tone.

Elaina glowered at the use of her full name. She remembered in grade school being made fun of by the other kids, until she made them too afraid to pick on her. They used to call her _Elaina-away Land_, because her first name rhymed a little with her last name. They had found it so damn funny for some reason. After grade school, she began introducing herself as Elli Weyland to anyone she met.

Elaina turned around to look at her father, finding him standing in the doorway of his office. He shook his head as he frowned at her. He motioned with his hand for her to join him. Elaina looked back down the hallway once, before following her father into his office. Max nodded in her direction before he left the room and shut the door, shutting her inside. Elaina sat down in the chair across from her father's desk, as he took a seat behind it. Crossing her arms over her chest she waited for him to explain why he needed to see her.

"Did you pack your bag," he asked her absently as his attention was caught by some paperwork on his desk. He frowned some, the corner of his lips turning down as he slipped his reading glasses on to read it.

"Of course dad, I did it hours ago," she muttered. Her dad looked up at her as her tone of voice caught his attention. He raised his brows at her, because he knew her so well. "What- you don't believe me, you can check my room for yourself if you want."

"Elaina," he said on a sigh. He washed his face with his right hand before looking over at her. "We will be arriving at Bouvetoya Island tomorrow. I just wanted to make sure you were ready."

Elaina fell back against the chair and sighed. She crossed her arms over her chest, but found it uncomfortable with the high arm rests. Uncrossing them, she laid them out on the arms of the chair and began drumming her fingers against the wood.

"I'm as ready as I ever could be for a trip into the Artic dad," she said without looking at him. Her eyes danced around the office and they took in the sparse furnishings. Much like his apartment, Charles Weyland was not one for decorating.

"Good," he said and he leaned back into his seat to study her. "You will be riding with Max and me to the pyramid. You won't be following us inside it though. You will be staying with the drilling crew on the surface."

"What," Elaina exploded, turning her heated gaze on her father. "You made me come all the way out here to the middle of freaking nowhere. And I have to ride all the way out to this stupid pyramid in the freezing cold and I'm not even allowed to go inside it?"

"It's too dangerous," was his explanation. "The pyramid is 2000 feet below the ice. I would feel better if you stayed with Quinn's crew on the surface."

"Then at least let me stay on the ship," she snapped, shoving her chair back as she stood. "Why do I have to go all the way out there anyway?"

"Because I trust my men more than I trust the company's ability to hire the crew that is running this ship," he answered her. His eyes followed his daughter as she started pacing back and forth across the room. The angrier Elaina got, he knew, the more animated she got. The fact that she had resorted to pacing told him just how angry she actually was, more than the words she spoke to him did.

"So because you're a paranoid old man, I have to freeze my ass off while you get to go gallivanting down in some ancient pyramid," she asked suddenly turning to face him. "Where the hell is the fairness in that?"

"Life is not fair," her father stated calmly. "But as my daughter, I will make sure you are safe whether you like it or not."

"Well I don't like it!" Elaina snapped and turned towards the door. She swung it open, nearly hitting Terminator with it as she stormed from the room.

"Elaina Weyland!" her father shouted after her as he stood from his desk. "I am not done talking with you."

Elaina didn't bother to look back at him. "Well I am sure as hell done talking with you," she shouted back.

In her fit of anger, she didn't hear her father's struggle to breathe. Had she bothered to turn and look back she would have seen him stagger back to his desk looking for his inhaler as he was overcome with a coughing fit. Instead Elaina stormed to her room and slammed her bedroom door shut before Terminator was even within a foot of her room.

She marched across the small space of her room and flung herself onto her bed with an aggravated scream that was muffled when she pressed her face into the rough fabric of her blanket. She laid there on her stomach, her face buried into her arms as she stifled her angry tears. The crinkle of a wrapper when she shifted on the bed drew her attention from her sorrows, momentarily. Elaina sniffled as she stared at the Twix bar she had left out for later.

"Desperate times calls for desperate measures," she muttered and wiped her snot from her nose and the tears from her eyes. Her hair was plastered to her forehead and she brushed it back from her face before she reached for the candy. She tore into the bag and took a bite. "I don't even care if I gain fifty pounds," she muttered as another tear slid down her cheek and she bit off another chunk of the candy bar. "I really need this."

Elaina rolled over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling of her room. "I am eighteen years old, I should be able to have more control over my life," she said between bites. "But because I'm Elaina Weyland, I have no life. Instead I get dragged to bum-fucked Antarctica, against my will and forced to freeze my ass off while my dad gets to explore some freaking pyramid like some Indiana Jones wanna-be." The only thing that had been getting her through the whole injustice of this trip was that she might get to help discover this pyramid. She had overheard her dad talking about it on the phone on their way here and it had sounded pretty cool to see a pyramid no one had ever seen before. She wasn't really into the whole Egyptology or archeology thing, but she'd seen the Mummy a few hundred times, and thought the whole dead Mummy back to life curse thing was kind of cool. Not that she was going to go around reading the Book of the Dead, but still-

Elaina glared up at the ceiling. Setting the half eaten candy bar aside, she rolled over onto her side, and curled up within herself.

"Whatever," she muttered. "Once we get back to the States, I'm out of here. Screw mom and dad, I don't need them. I never needed them before- I sure as hell don't need them now."

With that, Elaina drifted off into a restless sleep, feeling too drained to even care anymore.

* * *

**(AN)**

**Hopefully this chapter doesn't confuse anyone, as it happens before the prologue, technically. I guess you could say the prologue isn't the beginning of the story, it's not even the end but somewhere in the middle. Just a little teaser of the horrors that Elaina will go through to prove that she deserves to survive the pyramid.**

**I don't AVP, but I do own Elaina, her mom and the Terminator- er well not THE Terminator, but Elaina's Terminator... you know who I mean, tall, dark and annoying :)**

**And in case any of you are wondering, this will be eventually an Elaina/Celtic story. This story is broken into three parts and well- relationships don't grow over night and they sure as heck don't grow while you're running for your life from scary black aliens either, unless you're me, but you know that is a different matter all together. But friendship/companionship does, so give it time, I plan to throw in a few embarrassing moments for them so don't you worry =)**

**Let me know if you Love/Hate/Like it. I always could use a compliment and/or criticism. I'm still looking for a beta-reader so sorry about any mistakes, I cant seem to get a response for one, so I'm going solo on this. Anyway I will see you all in the next chapter, where things really start to pick up as the Expedition Team arrives at the Pyramid.**

**Inky out**


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter two:

_**Ice Breaker- Piper Maru  
Bouvetoya Island  
October 8**__**th**__** 2004**_

Elaina stood with Max and her father as their guide entered the room. It was the woman who had nearly ran her over yesterday in the hallway. She had only run into the other woman once since then and her annoyance for her hadn't dwindled in the slightest. If anything it had grown into full-blown distaste. Just what she needed was another adult telling her what she should and should not pack. Why did it even matter when she wasn't even going down into the stupid pyramid anyway?

"Gather around," the guide instructed the group and Elaina was forced to form a circle around the woman with the rest of the expedition team. The guide waited until she had everyone's attention before she started her instructions.

Two guys, each one with a different accent were talking to each other and the guide turned her gaze on them. "Gentleman," she said with a warning in her tone. Everyone went quiet after that.

"My name is Alexa Woods. I will be your guide out on the ice and in the pyramid. It is my job to keep you all alive on this expedition and I will need your help to do this," she began. She looked at each person, making sure they were all listening to her.

Elaina sighed, hoping the woman would hurry this along so that they could get this trip done and over with. The sooner they got out there the sooner they could get back to the ship. Then she would be at her mother's beachside house sitting on the beach in her bikini, forgetting this whole thing ever happened in no time at all.

"Since we do not have the proper time to train all of you, I am laying out three simple rules. One- no one goes out alone, ever," she instructed them, her voice giving no room for argument. "Two- everyone must contain constant communication. And three- unexpected things are going to happen and when they do, no one tries to be a hero, understood?"

"God it's like some morbid school field trip," Elaina muttered beneath her breath. Next to her, Max masked his laugh with a cough behind his gloved hand.

"Understood," Alexa repeated to a tall blonde haired man who was across the circle from Elaina. Apparently he must have not been paying attention.

"Yes ma'am," he said with a nod of his head.

At this the group parted and the crew went back to their last minute preparations for the journey on the ice. Elaina followed Max and her father to the truck they would be taking. She climbed in first, forced to sit in the back with the Terminator. Max and her father sat in the front, much to Elaina's disappointment. She wasn't going to be able to drive anytime soon, she quickly realized as they drove off the ship. The storm outside made it nearly impossible to see even a couple of feet in front of you.

The drive out on the ice consisted of her father and Max talking about everything from the crew they hired, to a Company that was trying to buy out the Weyland Industries. Next to her, Terminator was taking yet another nap and the two up front were pretty much ignoring her. Outside her fogged up window, Elaina could only see snow falling and beyond that was a cloud of white. If she squinted, she could almost make out the other vehicle's lights, but the falling snow distorted the image.

It took them a day of driving, the three men taking turns at the wheel, before someone called them to a stop over the radio and the truck came to a halt in the snow. Elaina looked up from the magazine she had been reading for the second time to look out the window.

"Why are we stopping," she asked the guys up front.

At the sound of her voice, Terminator woke with a start from his nap and looked around them with wide eyes. She searched outside and saw people getting out of the vehicles to gather in the snow. It must have stopped snowing at some point during the day, because for once since they had left the ship she was able to see clearly at all the other vehicles. It was like a winter wonderland outside and she had a sudden urge to start a snowball fight with the people outside.

Max was the first one out of the car and Elaina was quick to climb out after him as her excitement got the best of her. She stretched her stiff body, her back arching and her shoulder popping as she stretched the stiffness out of her cramped limbs.

"Never mind I don't care why we stopped, it just feels good to get out of that backseat," she muttered.

As Max helped her father out of the truck, Elaina waded her way to where everyone was standing. She was suddenly thankful she had switched from her designer boots to her actual snow boots. She looked down to see her foot sink into the snow halfway up her shins. Her boots were the length of her knees, tall enough to keep the snow from getting her socks wet.

Terminator followed Elaina to the group gathered around a ravine. The sheer drop of the edge was impressive, falling straight down into the darkness below. If it hadn't stopped snowing, they might have driven right over the edge without realizing it.

Elaina whistled, looking up at Terminator with a smile. "You first big guy," she said with a laugh, making the drilling team who was standing nearby laugh at her joke. Terminator just glared at her, not finding the humor in her joke apparently. Her witty comments were really wasted on him.

"I think it is more like Ladies first," the Italian said as he walked up behind her. He playfully nudged her forward.

Elaina teetered for a moment, before rocking back onto her heels. She shot the older man a dirty look. Catching his eyes though, her cheeks flushed red when she realized that he wasn't half bad looking. _Alas another sexy man with an accent and looks like he's old enough to be my dad_, she thought somewhat despondently. There was nothing sexier than a dark haired Italian with a five o'clock shadow even if she didn't like facial hair, it looked good on him.

"And they say chivalry is dead," she commented cynically in return.

"It's not dead- it only available when we don't want or need it," Lex said as she joined them. Their guide, Alexa who preferred to be called Lex, aimed a flare gun up into the air. "Let's see what we have down there shall we."

The red flare lit up the night sky as it exploded midair, and then slowly it fell and lit up the huge ravine in an ominous red glow. The glow lit up a bunch of old buildings in the center of the gorge, presenting what had probably once been a bustling little town was now nothing more than a ghost town.

"What is this place," Elaina's father asked as he appeared suddenly between Elaina and Lex. He peered down into the ravine, his eyes narrowing as he tried to see further than what the flare lit up.

"It's an old Whaling station," Lex answered, her voice sounding far away. Elaina turned to find the guide had walked closer to the edge to peer down at the sheer drop below. "It's been abandoned for years but according to your satellite coordinates Mr. Weyland, your pyramid is located directly beneath it."

"Let's go then," Her father said, his excitement at the discovery of the pyramid showing through.

"Alright," Lex replied and turned to group. "Load up!"

"Not again," Elaina muttered as she was just getting used to standing to her full height and now she was going to have to cram back into the backseat again. Next to her, Terminator started grumbling his displeasure in German.

Everyone shuffled back to their vehicles at Lex's command. It seemed like everyone was pretty anxious to get started. The trip to the bottom of the ravine was long and uneventful. At the bottom, they parked the vehicles near one of the old buildings and everyone was quick to set up camp.

"We'll use this place as base camp," Max called to the group. "Mr. Quinn, begin drilling at once."

"You got it," Quinn replied and turned to his team. "Spread out men, let's find a good place to set up."

Elaina was the last to leave the truck. She stood and watched as the group set up camp and as they all spread out to search the Whaling station. She wasn't allowed to go on the search. Instead she hung back and watched the drill team unload their equipment. It wasn't long before Sebastian found a hole in a wall of ice. The group relocated and the drill team set up their equipment up at the mouth of the hole.

"You want to take a look around," Max asked her after everything had been unloaded and things had calmed down some. "We'll be heading down in the morning."

"Sure," Elaina said and hopped down from the truck to join him on the ground.

She followed Max through the snow, Terminator faithfully following behind them at a distance. They walked along the buildings and Max played tour guide for her. Elaina found it all kind of creepy. Everything was so old and dark and the flare Max held did little to fight back the shadows that pressed in around them. Chilled by her surroundings, Elaina hugged her arms around her chest and tried to ignore the creepy vibe that climbed up along her spine. There were so many places for something to hide in, if there was any possibility that anything could survive out here.

"Your father said you were pretty upset the other day," Max said as a way of breaking the ice so to speak. "About you not being able to go down into the pyramid with us?"

"Well yea, I'm pretty upset about this whole situation," Elaina answered sarcastically. "I'm not exactly thrilled to be out here."

"Your father just wants what is best for you Elli, you know that," he said. "He wants to protect you. Maybe once we set up down at the pyramid and we are sure it's safe down there, you can come down and join us."

"You think he'll change his mind," Elaina asked skeptically, trying to keep the hope out of her voice. She knew her father better than anyone. He was as stubborn as a mule. It was like pulling teeth trying to get him to change his mind once it was made up but if anyone who could get him to change it, it would be Max.

"Let me talk to him," Max offered bumping his shoulder against hers in a friendly manner.

Behind them, Terminator began to grumble beneath his breath and she wasn't sure if it was the weather that was getting to him or if he understood what they were saying and wasn't thrilled with the idea of going down into the pyramid.

A small smile tilted the corners of her mouth and she hated how hopeful she sounded when she said, "That would be cool." She tried to pretend that she didn't really care one way or the other and bumped him back. "Thanks Max."

"Anytime," he said seriously. "Now let's find your father. I'm sure he'll want to talk to you before we turn in for the night."

* * *

_**Whaling Station**_  
_**Bouvetoya Island**_  
_**October 10th, 2004**_

Elaina found herself playing a game of slap jack against Terminator with a stack of cards Quinn had let them borrow the following day. They were holed up in one of the vehicles since as they had heaters and were warmer than the building the drill team was hanging out in. Terminator had flat out refused to go for another walk in the snow with her which had left them with very little options on what to occupy themselves with. The drill team had been nice enough to let her borrow the deck of cards and for the past few hours she had spent it playing solitaire, war and slap jack.

The others had gone down the hole about an hour ago as it had taken better part of the day to get the rest of the equipment set up. The group had hoped to leave that morning but everything hadn't been ready till later that day. The sun here seemed to set a lot quicker than everyone had expected. As the group headed down the hole, the drill team had to set up lamps to light up the area.

After just an hour of waiting to hear from Max or her Father, Elaina had grown bored of Terminator whining about the cold that she had agreed to find some place warm. The drill team was in one of the buildings on the other side of the whaling station which just left the Terminator and herself out here on this end near the opening to the pyramid. They were taking refuge in a truck that had a generator in the back of it. The generator was supplying power to the lights that lit up the station and as well as the machine that had lowered the supplies down the hole. It was also supplying the only heat within a thousand miles on this god forsaken island and there was nothing that could possibly get her to leave it.

"Ha!" Elaina shouted while slapping another jack before Terminator could. He grumbled beneath his breath, saying something in German. "Hey," she retorted. "Stop being such a spoil sport. It's not my fault you suck at this game."

As time passed the wind started up around them, howling against the windows of the truck and making them shudder by the force of it. Elaina looked up to see snowflakes swirling around in the wind and she shivered despite the heat that was pumping through the vents on the dashboard. Not long after that, it was like a blizzard outside and it was making Antarctica her least favorite place in the world. Snow was pretty, but she preferred it on TV in a Christmas movie. She hated the stuff in real life. It was cold, it was wet and when it fell this hard and fast it was not pretty. Elaina tried to ignore the falling snow and howling wind as she turned another card over. She frowned at the sight of the Queen of hearts.

"Such a letdown," she muttered out loud. Next to her, Terminator snickered and she glared up at him.

A little while later the sound of gunfire startled the pair from their intense game of go fish, since they had grown bored of slap jack.

Elaina lifted her head to look out the window slightly startled by the noise. She stared wide eyed as Quinn ran out from one of the buildings, heading in the direction the others had set up camp. She only knew it was Quinn as he had stopped by earlier to check on them and he had mentioned that he would be wandering around checking the equipment. He hadn't lingered long to talk much to her disappointment. She had hoped to have someone to talk to other than Terminator for a little while at least. Elaina figured Quinn had been warned of Terminator's itchy trigger finger and that was why he had beat feat as quickly as he could. Terminator was a shoot first ask questions later kind of guy and his reputation got around rather quickly. It might be the very reason why Elaina never had a boyfriend that lasted much longer than a week. Elaina watched as Quinn disappeared into the falling snow, the blizzard outside swallowing him whole.

There was more gunfire, this one sounding like rapid fire from a machine gun and not a single round of a pistol like the first gunshot had been. Elaina looked quickly to the Terminator, wondering what they should do. Her bodyguard withdrew his gun and with one hand motioned for her to stay put. Elaina nodded her head trying to keep quiet. She shifted to the side to allow him room as he moved towards the passenger side door.

He peered out the window, his eyes searching the snow. Then suddenly he pulled the door open and she began to panic.

"W-wait where are you going," she asked him feverishly.

Terminator motioned for her to stay put again and to stay quiet, with a motion of his hand that she had seen him use several times in the past. Of course all those times had been false alarms and she had never taken them seriously. This time though she snapped her mouth shut, her hand gripping the straps of her backpack like a life support as she watched her bodyguard. He hopped down to the ground below and eased the door shut.

Elaina slid her backpack on over her shoulders, tightening the strap around her waist to make sure it remained secure. She hesitated for a moment, listening to the sound of the storm outside and not able to hear anything else for a long time. Quietly, she slid across the seat and looked out the window to see where he had gone to. Her eyes tracked him in the snow as he had already covered quite a bit of ground and was heading towards one of the buildings. He used it for cover and peered around the corner of it and looked in the direction Quinn had disappeared down.

Elaina gripped the door handle considering the idea of following him. She didn't like being out here all alone. _What if there was a bear or something out there? Did bears know how to open doors?_ She was completely helpless if something attacked her. It wasn't like their guide had covered this in her brief instructions out onto the ice. She was totally screwed.

Trembling as if she wasn't safe and warm in the bed of the truck but actually standing out in the storm, Elaina stared wide eyed as the Terminator came out from behind the building and was swallowed whole by the blizzard raging outside. He was just suddenly gone and she was all alone now. She searched fruitlessly for him but he didn't come back. It felt like hours as she waited barely blinking, too afraid she might miss him returning. She held her breath, trying in vain to hear anything other than the howling wind outside the truck when suddenly there was a loud thud of something landing on the roof of the truck.

Elaina cried out, her hand slapping over her mouth as she stared up at the slight dent just above her head. _What the hell was that?_ _And how the hell did it get up there_? The truck was at least as tall as a semi-truck, how the hell did something get on the roof of it? Above her the roof creaked and groaned as whatever it was, walked to the driver side of the truck. Elaina pressed herself against the passenger side door, her hand involuntarily squeezing the door handle. The door opened with all of her weight leaning against it and she fell backwards out of the cab, her gloved hand losing its grip as she fell.

The air was knocked from her lungs when she hit the ground and landed on her back. Elaina gasped, struggling to draw air into her lungs as she rolled to her side and then to her hands and knees. She was grateful for her thick clothes as they kept the cold from penetrating much past the first layer she wore. As she gasped for air she heard the distinct sound of the metal popping and bending under the weight of something heavy, coming from the truck behind her.

Elaina looked back, expecting to find a polar bear or maybe a Sasquatch, looking down at her from the roof of the truck. Instead there was nothing. There was nothing on the roof of the truck she had fallen out of. Her eyes darted to the open door. _Nothing_. Terrified, her eyes searched the area, searching blindly in the blizzard for- _what, whatever the hell it was?_ Elaina frowned, _had it jumped down? Where the hell is it?_

A rattling growl had the hairs on the back of her neck standing up on end. Panicking, Elaina scrambled to her feet in the deep snow, stumbling forward when she tried to move. Once she managed to get steady on her feet, she ran. Her fight or flight reflexes went straight to flight and she ran as fast as she could in the snow that came up to her calves. Elaina ran blindly, barely able to see much further than two feet in front of her face. While running from an animal was usually the worst thing a person could do, Elaina had no control over herself as fear fueled her legs to flee the area.

Despite her better judgment she glanced back over her shoulder, trying to see if the thing might be following her but she couldn't see anything in the blizzard. Looking back in front of her, Elaina cursed just as she ran into the wooden structures that led up to the opening above. She staggered backwards and her eyes lifted to look up at the planks of wood that led to the landing above her. Without thinking, she started climbing not even bothering with the ramp just a few feet to the right of her. She pulled herself up to the level above and found herself standing in front of the hole that led straight down to the pyramid.

_Oh just great_, she thought as hysteria finally subsided enough for her to realize her mistake. She really hadn't thought this plan out very well. The only way off this thing was the ramp, the hole or jumping off of the ledge. She was pretty much trapped since she had no idea where the animal had gone to.

Gunfire drew her attention to the right. She watched as Terminator appeared out of the blizzard suddenly much to her relief. He stumbled forward in the snow, losing his footing and fell to his knees. His right arm dangled uselessly at his side and his pistol that he kept with him wherever he went was gripped tightly in his left hand.

"Terminator," Elaina shouted while waving her arms above her head but her voice was muffled by the wind.

Her bodyguard staggered to his feet, his eyes looking to the truck and seeing the door open. He whipped around, his eyes searching for any sign of her.

"Terminator," she shouted again, waving her arms in the air to get his attention.

He paused in his search, his eyes squinting as he struggled to see her through the storm. He used his good arm, wiping at his face and then he was running towards the ramp. "Ausführen von Elaina!" he shouted at her but his voice was distorted by the storm.

"What," Elaina called back while taking a step in his direction. She was going to meet him halfway and see if she might be able to help him but the scared look on his face had her hesitating. Sometime after he left her at the truck his hood had fallen down and the cap he had worn underneath was missing. She could see his face now as he drew closer to her. She'd never seem him look scared before as he was always so tough and serious all the time. He shouted something at her again, waving his left arm around and it almost seemed like he was trying to tell her to run. _Run where?_ Elaina looked around her. She had the edge of the platform to the left, a ramp to the right of her and huge hole that went down 2000ft at a 35 degree angle behind her. She had nowhere to go.

Looking back towards Terminator she was going to shout at him that he was freaking crazy to be running around with no hat on in this storm, when something behind him caught her attention. Something emerged from the storm, its form distorted by the falling snow but she could tell it was monstrous. The thing was moving fast, running after Terminator in the snow with little to no hindrance unlike her bodyguard. Terminator had reached the bottom of the ramp when the thing had appeared and now he was struggling to gain his footing on the ice that had frozen over the old wooden boards.

"Oh my god what is that thing," Elaina shouted, her eyes widening as the creature drew closer to the platform she was standing on. "Terminator look out!"

Her bodyguard whirled around facing the creature that was chasing him. He raised his left arm that was still armed with his pistol and fired off three shots. Elaina cried out, her pounding heart leaping to her throat and choking her. She expected the thing to stagger, maybe grunt and fall over like the bad guys always did in the movies but instead the bullets didn't even seem to phase it. It didn't even slowdown in the steady pace it was running. The only indication that the bullets had done any harm was the bright green blood that illuminated the things shoulder where one of the bullets had hit it. The rest didn't even seem to leave a mark.

The creature appeared humanoid, definitely not a bear of any sort and she didn't think it was a Sasquatch either. Not that she believed in the creature's existence but from the stories she had heard they were described as really hairy. This thing wasn't hairy. Even in the storm, she could make out the tall hulking form, equipped in some kind of armor across its chest, shoulders, arms and legs. It had to be at least seven feet tall if not taller as it towered over Terminator, who was now backing up slowly towards her. The humanoid had slowed its advance on them as it matched the Terminator's movements. Much like a predator stalking its prey it took a step to each one her bodyguard took towards her.

As it advanced on them, it withdrew a weapon of some sort from its back and with just a squeeze of its hand the weapon elongated into a spear. Nearly the same length as the humanoid now, the spear looked deadly with the two sharp ends with one end pointed in their direction.

"Oh my god," Elaina whispered, taking a step back and forgetting about the hole behind her.

She nearly slipped, her foot sliding a little on the ice beneath her boot. She glanced back to see herself at the mouth of the hole. Elaina managed to steady herself by grabbing one of the metal legs of the device that was extended across the opening behind her. She breathed a sigh of relief, as falling to her death was not on her top choices to die. Not that being skewered by a spear was either.

"Elaina ausblenden," Terminator ordered her. _Hide_, he was trying to tell her to hide.

She didn't know very many words in German but that one she knew as he had taught it to her once when she had talked him into playing hide and seek when she was little. It had been a short game as he had cheated every time it was his turn to find her.

Elaina would have listened had her fear not frozen her to the spot. She wasn't sure what terrified her more, the thing in front of them or the large hole behind her. All she could do was stare as the thing dropped into a battle stance, facing off with her bodyguard.

Terminator grunted, his hand adjusting its grip on the gun. Elaina knew it must be awkward for him, considering he was right handed but he didn't let the discomfort show. Around them the snow storm still raged making it difficult to see and it slowed their reaction time. That is, it slowed hers.

Without warning, the creature lunged forward thrusting the spear in their direction. Elaina gasped, her eyes widening at the speed of the spear as it flew towards them when suddenly Terminator was in front of her. The spear pierced through his chest, the sharp end jutting out the back of him. He slid backwards on his feet but the traction in his boots kept him from falling back into her. Elaina stared at the tip of the spear sticking out of his back, just to the left of his spine. It was leveled with her collar bone and the tip just a few inches from her.

"Oh god," she shuddered, tears filling her eyes and freezing against her cheek. He didn't even hesitate. All those years of torment, of humiliation, of every rotten comment she sent his way and he didn't even take a second to weigh his choices. He had just saved her life, selflessly.

The gun dropped to the ground at their feet, it's landing muffled by the snow. Terminator's hands went to the spear, gripping it tightly with his hands as he stared at the end protruding from his chest. It almost looked like he was trying to pull it out but couldn't seem to get a firm enough grip on it.

Before Elaina could move to help him, the creature was there grabbing the spear with its large hand and wrenching it free from Terminator's chest. Terminator held onto the weapon despite his weakened state. He grunted against the pull from the creature and fell against it as they struggled over purchase on the weapon.

"Ausführen von Elaina," he gasped.

She didn't know that word and for once in her life she wished she had tried to learn the language in school instead of taking Spanish. She didn't know what he was trying to tell her. His face was pale but he fought hard and managed to rip the weapon free from the creature's hold when he used the bullet hole in the thing's shoulder to his advantage. The Creature roared when he dug his elbow into the hole and the spear was dropped in the scuffle. As they fought, the spear was kicked back in her direction and Elaina yelped, jumping as the spear slid near her feet.

She wanted to help but her fear held her frozen. She was afraid she would just get in the way. She was afraid of the creature as it gained the upper hand and began to wrestle Terminator to the ground. Her bodyguard was thrown down and Elaina moved to help, thinking she could maybe grab his gun and help her bodyguard. She took a terrified step in their direction where the gun laid innocently in the snow.

Suddenly the creature's head jerked up in her direction and it roared at her in warning.

Elaina cried out, stepping back from the fight and her hands went up to defend herself in case it decided to attack her. For one split moment she forgot about the hole as she stepped back away from the pair. Her boot stepped back onto the slick ice just beneath a thin layer of snow and her foot lost its traction on the edge. With a cry, Elaina fell back as her feet came out from beneath her and the back of her head smacked into one of the metal leg. The force of the blow to her head propelled her forward and she fell face-first into the snow. Her lower half slid into the mouth of the hole as gravity began to pull her body down.

"No!" Elaina shrieked, her hands grasping desperately at the mouth of the hole for anything to keep her from sliding down the hole. Her hands found purchase with something stuck in the snow and her fingers curled around the device desperately. She looked up to see what she held and realized it was the spear. It wasn't a normal spear she realized as the thing was made of some kind of metal and there were designs intricately carved into the surface from one end to the other. The weapon was stuck length wise across the mouth of the hole and it was the only thing keeping her from falling to her death.

"Terminator," she cried out, her fear brought fresh tears to her eyes. As they fell, they froze against her cheeks from the bitter wind that made it hard for her to keep her grip steady on the spear. "Please help. Someone please help me- please!" Her gloves were making it hard for her to get a firm enough hold on the spear and she could feel her fingers losing their grip.

Terminator looked over at Elaina and he struggled with renewed vigor against the creature holding him down. He swung his head forward and connected with the masked face above him and the creature rolled off him in surprise. It didn't go unnoticed by him that it barely seemed to phase it, as the creature was on its feet, before Terminator was able to clear the stars from his vision. The humanoid kicked him in the side, sending him flying off the landing and out of sight.

"No," Elaina sobbed, her hands struggling to gain a better grip on the weapon.

Hearing her, the humanoid turned towards her and the long dark appendages attached at the back of its head flew out behind it as it turned. Slowly it stalked towards her, each step causing the old boards buried under the snow to creak from the weight of it. Once at the mouth of the hole the humanoid leaned down, its large hand reaching down and grabbed her left wrist in a bruising grip. She could feel its sharp talons digging into her skin, bruising flesh and if it squeezed any tighter it would break the bone.

Elaina cried out, her hands instinctively squeezing onto the spear as she dare not let it go. The sound of metal sliding against metal was deafening in her ears, louder than even the howling wind from the blizzard. Elaina's eyes widened as the spear shrunk back to its smaller form. For one split second she was weightless and then suddenly the humanoid lost its hold on her and she was falling.

Elaina screamed, her terror carrying her voice as she slid down the tunnel, her fall growing faster and faster as she was pulled closer to the bottom. She scratched at the ice trying desperately to grab anything and everything to slow herself down. In her desperation, Elaina took the spear and slammed the sharp end into the wall of the ice with as much strength as she could muster. It took her three tries before the weapon finally gained purchase. For one moment she hung there panting, tears falling from her eyes as she held onto the spear for dear life. She looked up towards the mouth of the tunnel and realized she had fallen so far that she couldn't see the end of it.

The faint sounds of gunfire told her that someone was still alive on the surface.

"H-help," Elaina shouted, her voice sounding hoarse and weak to her ears. "Someone please help me!" Tears stained her cheeks and she held her breath, praying that there was someone up there who heard her.

"Hello!" she shouted again, her voice gaining volume. She adjusted her grip on the spear, her arms feeling weak from holding her weight up this long already. "Someone, please anyone!"

The reply she received was an echoing roar. Elaina drew in a startled sharp breath of air, her eyes widening as she stared up the length of the tunnel. Instinctively, her hands tightened around the spear, wringing the metal in her terror that caused her body to tremble. Her reflex caused the spear to loosen in its hold on the ice and it slid an inch down. Her eyes snapped over to the spear in her hands and she shook her head in denial.

"No," she whispered but despite her pleas, the spear began to slide more and gravity began to drag her further down the tunnel. Closing her eyes, Elaina squeezed them shut as she waited for the impact. She waited for death, knowing it would be painful and that she wouldn't die right away.

It never came though, at least not as devastating as she expected. She slid out of the tunnel, sliding past the sled at the bottom. The momentum and her tight grip had her pulling the spear free as she rolled out into the snow in the cave below. Elaina laid there just breathing and hardly believing that she was still alive. Carefully she opened her eyes to her surroundings and found herself in the camp that had been set up by the expedition team. Lights lit up the dark cave she had fallen into and they were lined up all the way to the opening of the pyramid.

She stared in awe at the impressive sight hardly able to believe her eyes. She had never seen a pyramid in person before. It was even more impressive than what TV and the movies had ever made them out to be.

Slowly Elaina got to her feet, her toes numb from the snow that had gotten into her boots but she ignored the stinging pain when she walked. Still gripping the spear in one hand, she adjusted the strap of her backpack with the other, surprised to find she hadn't lost it yet. She walked towards the pyramid and stopped just short of the bottom of the stairs leading up.

She was torn from her wonder by the sound a deafening roar and a shout coming from the tunnel. Elaina turned towards the entrance of the cave, feeling her heart thudding in her chest painfully. She swallowed thickly as her hands began to shake.

"Oh god," she whispered.

She had nearly forgotten about that thing and now it was coming after her. Elaina clutched the spear to her chest like a lifeline. Terror gave wings to her boots as she ran in the snow to the stairs leading up to the pyramid. There were a lot of them to climb to reach the top but Elaina hardly seemed to notice as she clutched the strap of her backpack with one hand and the spear in the other. With one foot in front of the other she raced up the steps as quickly as she could.

Once at the top, she found herself winded but fear and adrenaline pumped through her veins and she didn't stop to catch her breath. She stormed into the pyramid, not looking back. If she had looked back though she would have seen Quinn fall from the opening of the hole and roll across the snow before coming to a stop. His unconscious form came to rest next to one of the yellow supply crates.

* * *

**AN: Well there you have chapter two. I just love Elaina she is such a klutz :D I think she gets that from her mom.**

**I don't own AVP, only Elaina and Terminator are mine. Well Terminator is partly mine actually as his name really doesn't belong to me...**

**I apologies for any mistakes as I am still without a Beta-reader, still looking for one.**

**Some German words I used and I am very sorry if I used them wrong, I got them off a German to English translation website. I wish I had taken German in school just for this story, but alas I took Japanese instead... oh well.**

**Ausfuhren von- run**

**Ausblenden- hide**

**Well let me know did you love it, hate it, maybe even liked it? There is more to come in The Hunt Begins, I'm not done with Elaina just yet ^.^**


	4. Chapter Three

Chapter three:

**_Whaling Station  
Bouvetoya Island  
October 10th 2004_**

Chulonte stood at the mouth of the tunnel looking down the length of it. The small ooman female had already vanished from sight and yet he could not tear his eyes away from it. He could still hear her screams of terror as she fell to her death but the only thing on his mind at that moment was that she had taken his Ki'cti-pa from him.

"Pauke-de ooman," he growled beneath his breath and his hands clenched into fists at his sides. Ci'tde would never let him live this one down if he found out about it.

He would have to retrieve it once his brothers caught up to him. Suddenly he recalled the reason why he had gone on ahead of them instead of stringing up the ooman bodies they had collected in one of the buildings. He had caught sight of a much more impressive prey and had left his brothers to the small group trying to keep warm, to stalk the larger ooman that had been wandering outside. The ooman was an impressive size, much larger than the other males they had come across.

Turning away from the tunnel, Chulonte crossed the landing and the old wooden boards creaked beneath his heavy weight. He stood at the edge, peering down at the body lying some feet away. The ooman male lay in a pool of its own blood that seeped into the white snow around it. The large ooman male had put up a decent fight and proved to be quite a worthy challenge for him. Its skull would make a fine trophy for him to bring back.

A quick scan with his mask showed the body was losing heat and could soon die from either the wound in its chest or from exposure. Leaping down to the ground below, he landed with a soft grunt and a slight bend to his knees to absorb the impact. He stalked towards his prey, his steps landing heavy with each step he took.

To his amazement the ooman was still awake and desperately grasping at the snow by its side with its bare hand. It would grab fistful of snow before hissing out a breath and reaching again. Chulonte dragged his eyes to what the ooman was trying to reach for and saw its primitive burner weapon laying discarded nearby. A low growl emitted from deep within his chest as he recalled the injuries it had inflicted on him already. The ooman had already exhausted all the rounds the weapon could hold and yet he still tried to reach for it for protection. Chulonte kicked the weapon further away even though the ooman had no chance of retrieving it with the sever wound in its chest but he refused to take any chances. The ooman had surprised him enough already and he was not one to like being surprised. Turning his gaze to the struggling ooman, he appraised it up and down. It was a rather large male, much bigger than the ones his brothers had found.

At seeing him, the ooman stilled and its body began to visibly tremble. Chulonte lifted his head and breathed in deep through his mask. He could not tell if the ooman was afraid of him, not with the bitter wind beating around them weakening his senses. The air was too cold for him to taste any scent in the air. Grunting, Chulonte switched spectrums and found one that allowed him to see the ooman lying at his feet with a little more detail.

The image was distorted by the dark bluish shadows but he could see that the ooman wasn't scared of him. Instead the ooman appeared to be anxious as words came out hushed and quick as it spoke. The flare in male's nostrils and gasping breath as it tried to remain conscious had Chulonte activating the translator in his mask to help him understand what the male was begging for. Once again the male surprised him.

Chulonte shook his head, knocking away light flakes of snow from his hide as they caused the netting he wore to crackle. The ooman male was still struggling to speak and blood colored its lips with each raspy breath. With each breath it took it coughed up more blood.

_"-lord please protect and watch over her-. –Forgive me Elaina-" _

Chulonte cocked his head at the sound of the name. The ooman was asking for protection over the female it seemed. He huffed beneath his breath and extended his wrist blades in agitation. Paya would not grant protection over such a weak ooman female. In one swift strike he ended the ooman's life and put an end to its plea before it could finish. The ooman's body twitched when he withdrew his blades from the male's chest. Then a long sigh escaped the ooman's lips as it finally died.

In front of him the air rippled and Chulonte lifted his head to see his brother Ci'tde uncloak. The taller Yautja cocked his head to the side to study his kill.

"Impressive Mei-hswei," Ci'tde praised and lifted his head to meet his brother's gaze. "This must be the prey that lured you away from your other trophy."

At his words Chulonte puffed out his chest in pride. He had honorably hunted and killed his prey. It was satisficing to have the ooman fight back, it being an added bonus to the hunt in his mind as the ooman had put up a decent fight. Their Sire, being the only common thing the three bother's had with each other, had told them of his Chiva on Earth. The oomans had been very lackluster during his hunt, cowering at the sight of him or pleading to be spared. This ooman had done neither except for his strange behavior near the end just now.

"Where is your Ki-cti-pa," Ci'tde inquired as he heaved his own burden up over his shoulder.

Chulonte paused in his retrieval of the ooman male. He looked up from where he was knelt to lift the ooman male up onto his shoulder and his brother's question reminded him of the female that had fallen to its death.

"Ooman has it," he grunted as he heaved the body up onto his shoulder and started towards the platform.

Ci'tde cuffed behind him, the sound ending with a trill of amusement. "Ooman," he teases. "Your impudence has cost you Mei'hswei."

Chulonte scowled and directed his attention to his brother behind him. "I will get it back," he grunted, his tone giving no room for argument.

"Your argument slows our hunt," Skl're called from the opening of the tunnel. He had already hung his kills up to be skinned later in front of the opening. He stood at the ledge of the platform looking at his two squabbling brothers. Even with his mask on, Chulonte could see the look of disapproval on Skl're face. Just the set of his shoulders and raised spines were evidence enough.

Chulonte huffed and turned back to his adjective and carried the body up the ramp with Ci'tde close on his heels. As they strung up their kills, Chulonte found his mind wandering to his brothers and himself. They had all been sired by the same male but raised with different females. Chulonte was the youngest of the group and most likely the most immature one. He was always rushing into battle without much of a plan in mind. He couldn't dampen the excitement that coursed through him at the thought of getting his next skull though. It was this trait that caused him to lose his Ki'cti-pa in the first place.

"This ooman that disarmed you Mei'hswei, was it just as impressive," Ci'tde goaded him as he had finished hanging his trophy up already. Ci'tde wasn't looking at him as he spoke but instead was admiring his own kill.

"H'ko," Chulonte growled, thinking about the female. It had been small in comparison of the male. Very clumsy even for a pyode amedha. "It did not disarm me, it stole my Ki'cti-pa."

Ci'tde huffed and clapped a hand on his brother's shoulder. "There is no difference Mei-hswei," he said but before he could add more they heard the sound of the last remaining ooman stumble and knock over a pile of crates in its haste of escaping the building it had hidden itself in.

"This one is mine," Chulonte growled and the three brothers activated their cloaks.

Chulonte leapt from the platform and stalked towards the direction the noise had come from. Oomans were such precarious creatures. Their ability to hunt was laughable as they had no concept of stealth. Shifting through the spectrums in his mask he activated the heat vision to allow him better sight on tracking the ooman's whereabouts.

He followed the footsteps from the stack of crates that had broken under the ooman's weight. The trail led him to where the ooman had run to a vehicle that still had its engine running. The door to the vehicle was open and the ooman peered inside as if planning to escape. Chulonte growled at the thought of his prey trying to make a run for it. Instead of climbing into the vehicle as he had expected it to, the ooman jumped back out and looked around as if searching for something.

"Elaina," the ooman called out weakly as he was clutching his left side in pain.

Chulonte could see a flare of heat from around the wound indicating that the ooman was bleeding. The way it carried itself indicated that it was in a lot of pain.

"Elaina where are you," the ooman muttered beneath his breath as it searched desperatly.

Chulonte could see that the falling snow and wind was obscuring the ooman's vision. It would wipe its face to rid the snowflakes from his eyes before whirling around to search in another direction, before repeating the process. Catching sight of his brother Skl're creeping in for the kill, Chulonte growled a warning. He had already claimed the ooman as his own. He did not share.

The ooman flinched at his growl and raised the hand that it had pressed to its side. In its grip was one of their primitive burner weapons. A deep rumbling growl emitted from his throat and the ooman bolted at the sound. Chulonte gave chase, silently following the ooman as it raced up the ramp to the platform above.

When the ooman slipped on the ice, Chulonte withdrew his wrist blades. The ooman had stumbled into the hanging bodies and it cried out in fear.

"Oh Jesus," the ooman whispered when it saw Chulonte's kill. The large ooman strung up by its heels was impressive and Chulonte felt his chest puff up with pride. "Oh fucking Christ."

The ooman then began searching the bodies, cringing at the sight of its crew but it continued to search them, looking for one in particular it seemed. Chulonte found this interesting as he hesitated in making the kill. What could it be looking for?

"Quit playing around," Ci'tde growled from his perch on a building nearby. He was getting annoyed with his brother playing with his prey. Chulonte wouldn't know an honest hunt until it bit him on the ass.

The ooman turned at the strange growls and clicking sounds, seeing them as aggressive and fired its gun at Ci'tde hitting him in the chest with its burner weapon. Chulonte grunted at the sound of his brother growing his outrage at being fired upon. He turned in time to see his brother's cloak fail because of the attack. Ci'tde spread his arms and legs and roared his acceptance to the challenge.

_Pauk_, Chulonte cursed realizing he had just lost his chance at another trophy, because of his curiosity over the ooman's behavior.

Ci'tde leaped down from his perch and the ooman male cried out in fear as it stumbled away from the large Yautja that stalked towards him. The ooman slipped in the ice when Ci'tde climbed up onto the platform it was on. Ci'tde smacked the ooman when it tried to aim its burner at him and knocked the primitive weapon out of its hands. The ooman tried to stand and Ci'tde just backhanded the male back off its feet. The ooman yelped as it was thrown down the tunnel falling to its death much like the female had earlier.

Chulonte huffed, having lost his chance at another kill because of his curiosity. Growling, his mind lingered to the female ooman. This was all her fault. Skl're clapped him on the back in passing. "Come Mei-hswei, let us start our Chiva," he called as he stalked towards the mouth of the tunnel.

Chulonte nodded and followed his smaller brother to where Ci'tde stood staring down the tunnel. They began their descent down the tunnel then. They scaled it slowly with their talons sinking into the ice as they climbed down it carefully. Skl're led the way with Ci'tde and Chulonte close behind him.

"How many ooman's did you throw down this tunnel," Skl're called up to his brother. He was eyeing the surface of the ice and about halfway down he could see evidence of the ice being disturbed. He paused to see a large gouge in the ice in front of him.

"Just the one Skl're," Ci'tde answered. It wasn't as if he had the intentions of throwing the male down the tunnel. He had misinterpreted how close the male had been to the opening and how hard he had hit the male that had caused the unfortunate event. It hadn't helped that he had been feeling annoyed with Chulonte as he tended to play with his prey beyond what was necessary for the hunt. Ci'tde was also quite anxious for his Chiva to begin. The oomans had been down there long enough that it was only a matter of time before the eggs would be introduced. They had already awakened the Queen and she was already laying her eggs deep within the pyramid. The anticipation was hard to contain as he shifted in his perch in the ice.

Ci'tde grunted as his talons slid down in the ice from staying in one spot for so long. His body heat was melting the ice and if they didn't start moving soon he might just end up like the ooman male at the bottom of the tunnel.

"Keep moving," Ci'tde barked, feeling his already thin patience wearing thin. Skl're sighed at his impatience and they began moving again.

Ci'tde reached the spot Skl're had been in and he noted what had caught his older brother's attention. There was a rather large gouge in the ice, much larger than anything the ooman male he had knocked down the tunnel could have been carrying. Ci'tde wasn't surprised that Skl're would find this interesting, as he was the more technical one of their group. He tended to over analyze everything which could be very annoying to Ci'tde, who preferred to rush right in with very little plan of action in mind.

Skl're was older than Ci'tde by a season but he was also smaller, being only 7'0. Though Skl're was smaller, he could still easily hold his own in an up close fight if need be, as he was much faster and smarter than most of his opponents. Something he had proved time and again in the Kehrite against Ci'tde, despite their size difference.

Ci'tde on the other hand was the largest of the three brothers being 7'8 and much bulkier. He could intimidate most of his opponents with his mere size alone and didn't have to be smart to win a battle. A good headlock usually sufficed but that did not mean he was dumb by any means. If he took the time, he could come up with a plan just as strategic as Skl're, but he usually did not have the patience for it.

Unlike his two older brothers, Chulonte was the youngest of the three and of about medium height. He was just slightly shorter than Ci'tde but was not as bulky. He tended to be more brazen than his siblings, never thinking anything through, but he never held back in battle which made him just as deadly. He would let his temper get the best of him and he would rush head first into any battle even if he had no chance of winning the fight. His foolishness would get him killed one of these days, Ci'tde was sure of it.

They reached the bottom of the tunnel with good timing as there were no more delays. The ooman male was still alive, much to Ci'tde's surprise when they came upon it. It seemed oomans were becoming more resilient than they had been taught. Their teachings of the species had not given them much hope of a decent battle as oomans were proving to be weaker and clumsier with each new generation that was produced. This Chiva was not only a test for the three brothers, but also a test to see if it was worth to keep the training grounds on Earth. They had discovered other planets with much more dangerous prey that would make the Chiva all the more thrilling. Ci'tde had to admit he was not all that disappointed with his Chiva so far.

The ooman cowered at the sight of them and Ci'tde grunted in disapproval. This ooman was pitiful and a quick scan showed it had serious internal bleeding and would not last much longer in the chilled cavern.

Chulonte stomped ahead of the group, readying to take on the pyramid now that they were getting closer to the true trial. Skl're was checking his map, keeping an eye on the ooman's progression through the pyramid. Ci'tde lingered and as the ooman relaxed in its hunched over position on the ground, he extended his blades.

The sound drew the ooman male's attention to him and it cried out as he plunged his blades into the male's chest killing it in one swift blow. Taking another twine from his belt, Ci'tde tied the male's legs together and dragged him to the side of the tunnel to hang it up off the ground. By the end of his Chiva, it should be drained completely and ready for skinning. It would make a nice addition to his already growing collection of trophies. Ci'tde purred as he traced a hand over the male's outer skins. Yes indeed. He had three trophies already to impress the females come time for mating season.

"Ci'tde," Skl're called a little exasperated with him.

Ci'tde turned and jogged after his brothers as he did not want another lecture on punctuality from Skl're. His wrist blades retreated back into place and he started the climb up the pyramid steps to catch up to his siblings.

"C'jit." Chulonte grunted as he peered around.

"What is it Mei-hswei," Ci'tde asked, amused by his brother's annoyance.

"The female survived," his younger brother commented offhandedly as he searched the cavern once more. He was switching between visual scans and came up empty. How was it even possible? At his sides his hands clenched into fists.

"A female," Ci'tde inquired with a tilt of his head. He turned to look back at his brother with his interest peeked. "The ooman that disarmed you was female?" Ci'tde could not quiet his trill of amusement. There was something amusing about a weak female ooman disarming his brother.

"I was not disarmed," Chulonte grunted and shoved passed his brother as his anger boiled just below the surface. He was climbing the stairs more swiftly now, catching up to their older brother in just a few strides.

Ci'tde let out another trill of laughter before he jogged after his brothers.

"That might explain the markings," Skl're said off handedly. He was tinkering with his computer as he spoke so he did not see his brothers look at him questioningly.

Then it dawned on Ci'tde what their brother was referring to. "The female must have used your Ki'cti-pa to slow her decent down the tunnel Chulonte," he explained for Skl're.

They reached the mouth of the pyramid and Skl're's computer sounded with an alarm. The three brothers were pulled from their playful bantering to the image of the pyramid. The three-dimensional image had zoomed in on a group of oomans that were in the chamber that housed their plasma casters.

The Chiva was to begin as soon as the three Yautja retrieved their weapons and they would go on the hunt for the Kiande amedha.

"Pauk-de Oomans," Chulonte growled as they watched the ooman's take their weapons from the casket and initiating the Chiva.

This would make the hunt all the more dangerous for the three brothers. The Kiande Amedha were a very resilient and deadly prey. The sleek black aliens had an arsenal of weapons that consisted of a wicked inner mouth they used to impale their opponents in close combat, along with a dangerously long tail that they used as a whip or even to stab their enemies with. The brother's meager set of weapons would not last long against their acidic blood either.

Skl're turned the image off and turned to look from one brother to the next. "Come on then," he said and for once his temper was slightly irked. "The Hunt Begins."

* * *

**AN: Alright so this is my first time writing in the Predator's POV, let me tell you it was difficult, though not as bad as a Car that can only talk through a radio, but still tough. Hopefully I did okay, I did a lot of reading and researching on their language and trying my best to get them into character. I've watched AVP about a hundred times and I can quote it word for word.**

**I want to thank your all for the reviews I've gotten for this story and the follows. I want to thank Guest for this chapter. I've written this story out but it's mainly in Elaina's POV and Guest gave me some inspiration to dabble a little bit more out of my norm and write in the Predator's POV a bit. So I've gone back through and added some chapters and changed a few things.**

**So tell me what you think on the brother's. I tried to get a little bit into detail on each of them to kind of explain how I think things went down the way it did in the movie. Can you guys guess which brother is which in the movie?**

**Ci'tde, Chulonte, Skl're none of these names belong to me as I got them out of a list on a website. I thought I did pretty good at picking them out though ^.^**

**If you havn't guessed already, I don't own the Predators or Quinn... Poor Quinn lol.**

**Anyway let me know if you like it, I could really use the feedback. Is it too rough, I tried to get it out, as my internet connection hasn't been that great lately so I didn't dissect it like I normally do to edit it. Give me some feedback :)**

**some Yautja words:**

**Mei-hwsei- Brother**

**H'ko- No**

**Ooman- Human (slang term)**

**Pyode amedha- soft meat/human**

**Kiande amedha- hard meat/Xenomorph**

**Ki'cti-pa- Combi-stick/spear**

**Pauk-de- fucking**

**C'jit- shit**

**hopefully that is all of them, hope you all have a spectacular night, I will see you all in the next chapter,**

**Inky out.**


	5. Chapter Four

Chapter four:

_**Bouvetoya Island  
2000 feet below the Surface  
October 10**__**th**__**, 2004**_

Elaina had no idea where she was going when she went charging into the pyramid. There seemed to be no signs of there ever being anyone here, at least not for a very long time and that scared her. _Where is everyone?_ At the opening of the pyramid she had seen signs that the expedition team had been there. The disturbed dust and broken cobwebs had told her that they were already inside. The large opening into the pyramid had given her hope that she might find the other's quickly. In her paranoid state of mind she hadn't thought to look for clues to indicate which route they might have taken once inside. She had only one thing on her mind and that was to put as much distance between herself and the humanoid creature outside.

Now she was completely lost. The wide opening had turned into a narrow passageway, the ceiling just a few feet above her head now and the walls on either side could barely make enough room for two people to pass through. _Just how big is this place?_ _How many different rooms and passageways can this stupid place have?_ She hadn't paid much attention to the schematics her father had on his laptop of the pyramid. Why did she need to look at a map of a place she wasn't even going to be able to explore anyway? Now she regretted not listening to her father or Max back on the ship. She should have paid more attention their guide when she'd talked to the expedition team before going down the tunnel. There were a lot of things she should have done and right now was not the time to dwell on them.

Elaina gripped the flashlight she had pulled out of her backpack as soon as the lights from outside no longer reached her. It was really dark inside and her small flashlight did little to give her any reprieve from the darkness that pressed in all around her. She shivered in the cold stale air. One hand was trailing along the wall to help lead her along, while the other held the flashlight out in front of her to light the way.

She wanted desperately to call out for her dad or to call out Max's name but what if that thing was down here with her? What if it was creeping right up behind her at this very moment, waiting for the right moment to strike so that it could feast on her flesh? Her own traitorous thoughts had her whipping around in fear, the beam of her flashlight bouncing off the walls searching desperately for the humanoid creature. There was nothing in the darkness with her though.

Elaina let out a slow shaky breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding. She reached up with her hand to wipe at her eyes. She was furious to find more tears there.

"God stop being such a baby," she whispered harshly to herself.

She tried not to think about Terminator. Knowing that he was probably dead, didn't make any of this easier for to her not think about him. She knew that if she thought about his sacrifice and what he had done for her that she would break down and really cry. It wouldn't be a quiet cry either but one full of sobbing and salty tears. Her crying over something she couldn't change would only lead that monster right to her and then where would she be, just as dead. Elaina wiped at her eyes and then her nose, riding herself of the evidence of her tears. Turning back around she continued on her journey, hoping she would run into the others soon.

The twist and turns in this place seemed never-ending as she progressed further along. In her head she repeated the directions over and over again trying to memorize the path she took in case she hit a dead end and would have to retrace her steps. _Right—right left, right-_ trying desperately to remember the path she took at each fork. Another turn in the pathway led her into an opening not as large as the first opening into the pyramid but it was much more impressive.

Elaina stared opened mouthed at the room as she walked forward. She turned around shinning her light up at the designs further up. "Wow what is this place," she whispered out loud.

She turned around to peer up at the walls around her. She took a few steps backwards, still crossing the room but not really paying much attention as to where she was really heading anymore. There was a ledge a few feet above her head and beyond that, lining the walls were statues. It looked like the statues were holding something in their hands. Elaina squinted her eyes as her flashlight traced the weapon to help her see it better.

"Wait," she muttered and reached into the side pocket of her backpack.

She pulled out the spear she had stuffed there in favor for the flashlight. She looked at it with the light and then compared it to what the statues were holding. If it wasn't the exact same, they were very similar in shape and size. The statues in this pyramid were holding spears just like the one she had taken from that thing.

"No freaking way," she said, feeling suddenly sick to her stomach. She really didn't want to know what that could possibly mean. The walls were lined with the humanoid creatures. Just how many of these things were there?

Elaina started walking backwards again, while turning herself around to continue in her search for her father and the others. There was a strange rattling growl coming from above her that had her heart skipping a beat and she froze mid step.

_Oh god,_ she thought in a blind panic.

Elaina stared at the opening on the other side of the room, as she held her breath too afraid to even breathe. Another growl had her bolting, her fear driving her forward. Elaina ran to the opening, her feet kicking up dirt and debris as she ran as fast as her legs would take her. She didn't stop there once she reached the opening but kept running. The opening led into another narrow passageway which she ran blindly into. Her arms pumped at her sides, the beam of her flashlight bouncing around off the floor, the walls and the ceiling as she ran.

The tunnel led down several twists and turns before opening up into another room. This room was much smaller and Elaina raced into it, her head turning to look behind her. She couldn't see anything down the dark tunnel, let alone able to tell if that thing was chasing her. Elaina slammed into a solid surface, the blow knocking the air from her lungs and sending her sprawling backwards onto the ground. Gasping for air, she looked up to see that she had run into the wall of a small chamber. She struggled to catch her breath, her eyes watering against the pain the blow of hitting the wall had caused her.

As she tried to get her breathing under control, she searched the room and realized she had run into a dead end. She was basically a sitting duck with nowhere to hide. In her blind panic she hadn't seen any other openings not that she had tried to find any either as she had run for her life.

Elaina had just gotten her heart to slow down some, when she heard gunfire coming from the direction behind her. It sounded as if it was coming from the passageway she had just come out of. There was shouting, the noise faint as there was quite a distance between her and voices but she could distinctly tell they were human and shouting in English. Elaina struggled to her feet, finding the effort a little painful but the thought of finding the others had her pushing the pain aside. She had just gotten to her feet when the walls started moving around her.

"No," she shouted when she saw the opening in front of her closing.

Elaina started towards the tunnel but before she could get to it a slab of concrete came down blocking her exit. She ran into the wall, slamming her fists against it trying to fight back a sob as she realized that everyone was just on the other side of the wall from her.

The sound of more walls moving had her whipping around to see the ceiling shrinking and shifting making the room even smaller. Now she was trapped inside a small room with no windows and no way out.

"Oh god," she whispered.

She was trapped. She was stuck here and the others had no idea she was even down here in the pyramid. From the sounds of the gunfire, she was sure they had run into the creature that had attacked her and Terminator out on the surface.

Elaina slowly slid down the side of the wall till she was sitting on the ground. She drew her legs up to her chest, hugging them to her as fear settled over her. How had everything gone so terribly wrong? How did she end up lost in a pyramid 2000ft below the surface in Antarctica? If she didn't suffocate first she would either die from exposure or starvation if the others didn't find her. She almost wished she had just stayed in that room, even if it meant she might have run into that creature. That rattling growl had terrified her but right now it sounded more promising than being stuck in a small room with no exit.

Elaina choked back a sob, her eyes squeezing shut as she kept herself from breaking down. What would Terminator say if he saw her now, huddled in the corner crying like a baby? He would have found it disgusting and say something in German that she couldn't understand. He would have picked her up and shook her a bit to snap her out of her misery. Reaching up, Elaina wiped away her tears and sniffled to gain some control over her runny nose. She managed to rein in her emotions but just barely so. Slowly, she slid her backpack off her back and sat it between her legs. She riffled through the contents, finding her bag of candy stuffed deep inside the backpack.

Elaina nibbled on one of her candy bars, needing the chocolaty goodness to settle her fraying nerves. She sat there for a while, staring absently at the wall across from her. She was just getting used to the idea that there was no way out and that she could possibly die here in the dark when the walls around her began to rumble and shift.

"Wha-what," she stuttered, lifting her head in alarm.

At first she thought the room was getting even smaller and she was going to be squashed but then they stopped shrinking around her. The wall to her left opened up leading her out of the small room she had been trapped in for the past few minutes. Hardly able to believe her eyes, Elaina climbed to her feet. She shined her light out into the opening and found a set of stairs going down. It was disheartening that is didn't lead her any closer to the others but further away, but it was much better than the alternative. Not wanting to be trapped in that room any longer, Elaina stuffed her bag of candy back into her pack. She slipped her arms through the straps and let the backpack settle against her back before starting towards the new opening.

Elaina followed the set of stairs down, using her flashlight as a guide for her to see each step as she took them. At the floor below, she found herself in another long passageway and this one was as dimly lit as the ones before it that she had found herself in. She never realized how much she would miss the light until it was taken from her. Even her flashlight hardly did anything to chase away the darkness. Elaina walked down the passageway slowly, taking each twist and turns as it led her further into the pyramid.

* * *

_**Bouvetoya Island  
2000 feet below the Surface  
October 10**__**th**__**, 2004**_

The pyramid schematics indicated that there was a straight path leading to the chamber that the oomans were heading. After the walls had shifted it had blocked off the tunnel leading back for the group but had opened up a pathway for the three brothers. Ci'tde took it as a good omen from their God Paya. They would be able to cut off the oomans and retrieve back their plasma casters, before things got too far out of hand.

"The eggs are hatching," Skl're warned them as they ventured further into the pyramid.

Ci'tde nodded his head and shifted his visual spectrum to night vision. He led the way with Skl're taking up the rear as he was keeping an eye on the schematics to keep track of the oomans progress through the pyramid. It had appeared the large group of oomans had split into two smaller groups. One group had lagged behind in the sacrificial chamber while the second group had gone on ahead to inspect the pyramid. It was this group that had been the one to activate the pyramid and started the Chiva before the three brothers had been ready.

The first group was already incubated by the facehuggers and it would only be time before they hatched and the Kiande amedha were running free. They needed to get their plasma casters before that, otherwise things would become much more difficult for them.

Ci'tde led the way. Each Yautja was cloaked as they stealthily inched their way along the corridors. Any echoing sound emitted would cause the three to pause to listen. Raising one clenched fist Ci'tde signaled the group to stop. He could hear the sounds of footsteps down the hallway coming from behind them. It was faint and only his excellent hearing could pick up the sound.

"Skl're," Ci'tde called to his brother, his mandibles clicking together as he spoke.

Without needing to elaborate on his request, Skl're drew up the schematics once more to study the passage behind them. "Ooman," he answered.

Chulonte perked up at this information and turned as if to head off to intercept the ooman without being told to do so. He was in the process of passing Skl're to head down the hallway, when his older brother's voice stopped him.

"H'ko," Ci'tde barked to his brother, making Chulonte pause.

Chulonte looked back at him and cuffed beneath his breath. "Who put you in charge," he shot back with a growl of his own. He wasn't about to let some ooman go unscathed and if there was one sneaking up behind them, then now would be the best time to take them unaware. Ci'tde would be foolish to let a perfectly good skull go to waste.

A warning growl rumbled out from deep within Ci'tde's chest and at his sides he clenched his fists in anger. He wasn't in charge but even he knew that charging after a random ooman right now would only make things even more difficult for them. The group of oomans were quickly reaching the chamber in front of them and they wanted to make sure they were there first to give them time to set up their trap.

"We will continue with Skl're's plan," Ci'tde grunted as he reined in his temper some. "We will intercept the oomans in the chamber and retrieve our plasma casters first."

Chulonte snarled at his older brother but didn't argue any further unless he wished to evoke his brother's temper. He didn't stand a chance on a good day up against the larger Yautja and as it were, today was not one of his better days.

"Mei'hsweis, the pyramid will be changing soon we need to hurry," Skl're piped in with his own two cents and dispelling the argument rather quickly.

Chulonte huffed, the sound coming out harsh as he pulled himself up to his full height and grudgingly followed his brother's to the chamber ahead of them. The narrow hallway opened up into a large chamber room with stone statues made up of older generations of Yautja.

Skl're pointed up at the landing above and the three brothers started to climb, creating little noise from the effort it took to scale the walls. Chulonte reached his chosen spot first and ducked into the dark crevice behind a stone statue. He shifted his visual spectrum to night vision and studied the layout of the chamber. In this vision he could not see his brothers lurking from their spots, which meant neither would the oomans.

A scuffling noise coming from the hall they had just come out of, had Chulonte switching back to infrared. He watched as a small ooman walked into the chamber. It was tiny in his mind and he was suddenly glad he had not gone back to claim it's skull as it would have been a pathetic trophy. The females back on their clanship would have laughed at him if they had seen such a tiny ooman skull among his trophies.

Grunting beneath his breath, Chulonte leaned back as his body lost the tension it had gained since he had realized the oomans were close to catching up to them. Tossing his head side to side, the appendages at the back of his head made little noise as they clapped against the pads of his shoulder armor.

"Wow what is this place," the ooman said mostly to itself and Chulonte blinked as if startled.

Leaning forward from his perch, he felt his spines rise at the familiar sound of the ooman's voice. He watched the ooman closely as it turned itself around and began walking backwards. He flinched when the ooman's torch crossed his vision and blinded him momentarily. Blinking the stars from his vision he was held immobile as he couldn't see anything beyond the white light etched into his retinas.

"Wait," the ooman muttered and he could hear it rustling around in its pack before it withdrew something out. "No freaking way."

"Pauk," Ci'tde growled as he caught sight of his brother's combi-stick.

Chulonte wanted to know what had Ci'tde upset but his vision was still smarting and he could only see the blurred image of the ooman as it turned and bolted out of the chamber. Shaking his head, he blinked a few times and slowly his vision returned to him. These oomans were going to be the death of him.

"C'jit, Ci'tde," Skl're growled as the ooman escaped the chamber and disappeared down the tunnel. They hadn't planned to let any more oomans to become hosts for the kiande amedha, but hopefully one more wouldn't cause any more problems to their Chiva.

"What," Ci'tde trilled as he dragged his eyes away from where the ooman had vanished. He could still not believe such a small ooman had disarmed his brother. Cuffing beneath his breath, Ci'tde turned his attention to his older brother, wondering what was bothering him now. Before he could say anymore though, the sound of approaching footsteps had the three brothers quieting once more.

The group of oomans entered the chamber two males with burners leading the way. Chulonte almost purred out loud at the sight of the group. Now these were impressive prey. He liked the size of the one in front leading the pack with cautious words. It appeared to be the alpha male as it seemed to protect the rest of the group.

One of the smaller oomans pointed its torch at the statues, nearly blinding Chulonte a second time. He grunted in annoyance but managed to shield his eyes from the bright light this time.

"Recognize what's on their shoulders," the ooman with the torch asked another and Chulonte leaned forward to get a better look. The ooman sounded female and he wondered if it was the one that had taken his Ki'cti-pa. He hadn't paid much attention to the female that had taken his combi-stick back on the surface but he knew it had been small, weak and very clumsy.

This ooman's voice didn't sound right, as it sounded a little deeper and not as screechy, but then the female had been screaming while falling down a tunnel when he'd heard its voice. Scanning the female, he could see the size was slight but not real petite. Could his initial assessment of the female have been wrong?

Below them the oomans disbanded a little, some studying the stone walls, seemingly unaware that they were being watched by three predators as the others stayed more alert to their surroundings. The female spoke again and Chulonte was starting to think this was the female that had taken his combi-stick. The group banded together and started on a journey once more.

Ahead of them, Skl're laid in wait for an opportunity. He had set a trap with a thin wire wrapped around a beam from the ceiling hanging like a noose in the middle of the room. As the oomans moved forward, he lowered the wire down till it hung directly in one of the ooman's path. The last male in the group stepped forward and the noose hooked around his neck and Skl're only had to give a sharp tug to bring the body up towards the ceiling with little difficulty.

As the ooman was lifted, it dropped its burner alerting the rest of the group to their comrade's situation. As the group of oomans began to panic, Chulonte readied his spear gun on his wrist gauntlet as he searched for a target. Eyeing his next kill, he waited until the ooman shinned its torch on him, before letting loose his spears.

The oomans began firing their burners as the second ooman was killed. Their wild and rapid firing in the dark did little damage to the brothers and if anything, it created more visual issues for the oomans. With each spattering of shots, dust and debris flew from the damage done to the stone walls creating a cloud in the air to help hide the Yautjas who were cloaked in the shadows.

The oomans ceased firing as they reloaded their weapons and as they prepared themselves for another attack, the walls around them began to shift. The chamber began to fold within itself, as walls lifted and moved creating smaller rooms.

Ci'tde cursed out loud at the timing as they had not yet retrieved their weapons from the oomans. "Skl're the pyramid is shifting," he growled, not thrilled with this new predicament. They had only been able to add three more kills to their collection and there was still plenty left trying to weave their way out of the shifting chamber.

Seeing his chance to get to the female, Chulonte took a running jump across the chamber, much to his brother's dissatisfaction as it drew the ooman's attention to him. Chulonte didn't care what his brothers thought as he tried to make his way after the retreating female. The large group of oomans had been broken up into much smaller groups now. The female had made it to the other side of the chamber with three males and they were making a quick run for it, leaving the others behind.

Three males had been left behind in the chamber and Chulonte dispatched one with his wrist blades as he ran forward. Behind him, Ci'tde killed the two others with his Ki'cti-pa with two swift strikes before they even knew what hit them.

As they moved forward, Ci'tde and Chulonte found themselves locked in a small alcove after the pyramid finished shifting. A quick look at the schematics, indicated that the chamber had shifted into a several smaller rooms. There were two oomans locked in a room about the same size as theirs just on the other side of the wall from them, but no amount of pushing or shoving against the stone would allow them access to the easy targets. A little further away from them was the larger group, three males and a female, trapped in a larger room.

"Pauk," Ci'tde cursed as he realized they'd left Skl're behind, who had managed to avoid the chaos of the shifting walls and had back tracked through the pyramid. The map indicated his location was going around the mess the chamber had become to cut off the oomans further into the pyramid. Slanting his eyes over to his smaller brother, he found him still trying to push the wall down to get to the two ooman males, when it was clear the wall was not going to budge.

"Knock it off Chulonte," he barked, feeling his temper rising along with his agitation towards his brother. Until this Chiva, he hadn't realized just how annoying his little brother could actually be.

He wasn't happy with this situation either. Every moment wasted being trapped, gave the Kiande Amedha the chance to grow and become deadly. They hadn't come across one yet but it was only a matter of time. They needed to be ready and at the top of their game if they hoped to become blooded and make it out of this pyramid alive.

This Chiva was a rite of passage for their kind. A true test of their honor. In order to be welcomed back into their clan, they needed to kill as least one Kiande Amedha to be blooded and they could return home as blooded warriors, an honorable status among the clan.

"I can do whatever I want to do Ci'tde," Chulonte shot back with a growl. He slammed his shoulder once more against the stone wall, planting his feet into the ground firmly and shoved with all of his strength. He had been denied one more trophy from the tall male just on the other side of this wall and he wanted his skull.

Ci'tde took a threatening step towards his brother, ready to give Chulonte a piece of his mind, when suddenly the wall behind them opened up. Startled, the pair turned to look into the opening with slight skepticism. The pyramid wasn't due to shift for a little while longer and seeing the door open in front of them, made them leery. Or at least it made Ci'tde leery.

Forgetting his earlier mission to reach the two males, Chulonte hurried over to the opening and peered out. He checked for any heat signatures and found none. As there was only one path to take, he started forward, his mission now to find the pauk-de ooman that had taken his Ki'cti-pa.

"Chulonte," Ci'tde snarled after his brother as he disappeared from the room. He was still angry over his earlier comment and this foolish quest was grating on his nerve. It was just a weak ooman. Right now, there were much more important things to worry about, such as the Kiande Amedha lurking about. Behind his mask, Ci'tde's mandibles twitched with agitation and he rushed the opening as it had started to close on him. He barely made it out of the room before it closed, feeling the stone wall scrape the back of his heels as he made it into the hallway.

Consulting his map, Ci'tde growled at the sight of his brother just running on ahead, not taking into account if the Kiande Amedha were running free already. As the hard meats held no body heat, he could not see where they could be lurking on the map. But the map did show the cooling bodies of the oomans that had been trapped in the sacrificial chamber above them. The smaller version of the Kiande Amedha were running loose and it was only time before they grew to adults. Shutting the red holographic image off, Ci'tde started off at a jog after his brother. As he caught up to him, the pyramid began to shift.

The pair became stealthy once more, their movements silent and methodical as they neared a new chamber. They could hear the sound of ooman voices as they rounded the corner. They had caught up to the three males and the single female group it seemed. The smaller group of oomans were being much more cautious than before but their limited vision in the dark pyramid put them at a great disadvantage.

Placing a hand on his brother's shoulder to keep him from rushing into battle, Ci'tde indicated with a silent motion of his hand for him to wait. Chulonte reluctantly stilled in his attempt to stalk the oomans as for once he listened to his brother without argument. They watched the group, studying it for weaknesses as they had paused to take a short break. One of the ooman males appeared fatigued and a quick scan showed it was quite ill as its lungs were riddled with some form of disease. The male wouldn't prove to be an honorable kill and the brothers both agreed to spare its life for now. They watched as the weaker male was the cause of the ooman's break as it had to stop and lean against a stone wall. It appeared to be in distress as it struggled to catch it's breath. As the weak male took in quick breaths of air, the female tried to comfort it with calm words.

It was then that Ci'tde noticed the plasma caster on the ground at the ooman's feet. The weaker male had bent to retrieve it from where it had dropped it as the female told it to leave it behind. It seemed even after their disastrous plan to retrieve their weapons back in the other chamber, they were given a second chance to get at least one of them back now.

After some argument, the female agreed to carry the weapon and the male placed it into the pack on its back. The group then recovered from their momentary break and proceeded to move on. They were heading to the opening on the end as a group; only one of them appeared to be armed with a burner weapon as the rest huddled together for protection. It was the alpha male they had seen from the other chamber.

"That male is mine," Ci'tde hissed before Chulonte could do something foolish.

Pushing past his brother, Ci'tde stalked after the oomans to claim his trophy. As he moved along the chamber just beyond the ooman's vision, he passed by two stone pillars and raising his arm, shot his net gun at the male. The sound drew the ooman's attention and it began a rapid fire from it's burner as the net flew through the air at it. The ooman cried out as the net slammed it into a broken pillar. As it struggled against the confinement, the net twisted with each movement, shrinking around the prey. It wasn't Ci'tde's preferred weapon of choice, but his temper was flared and he wanted to dispatch the oomans quick without any problems. He was tired of this Chiva and ready to return to his clan as soon as he became blooded.

Ci'tde charged the group as the oomans tried breaking the net with their primitive weapons but nothing could cut through the twine the net had been constructed from. The female heard him coming and it turned to attack with some form of sharp weapon. With a sweep of his arm he knocked her away. The weak male also tried to do the same and he quickly removed the nuisances that were keeping him from his prize.

As he approached the third male, it did something Ci'tde did not expect. It issued a challenge with a closed fist to Ci'tde chest. Grunting from the attack, Ci'tde found his attention momentarily distracted as he wrapped his hand around the small male's neck and lifted it up off its feet. The male clawed as his wrist as it struggled to breathe. It was always refreshing to come across prey that truly impressed him. It had been a while since Ci'tde enjoyed a battle that was one on one without any weapons. Though the ooman had very little chance of surviving in such a fight against Ci'tde, he purred in delight at the open challenge.

Next to him, the ooman still strapped in the net squirmed as it struggled to keep it from shrinking more by using the burner as a shield. The net had already begun to cut into the ooman's skin along its forehead though, creating unnecessary pain. The ooman looked to Ci'tde with a cry of pain, its arms shaking as it struggled against the net. Taking his Ki'cti-pa, Ci'tde used it to end the male's suffering and it sliced through the ooman's chest and embedded the tip into the stone floor beneath it.

Finding his attention no longer divided from his prize, Ci'tde focused his eyes on the ooman in his grasp as he tightened his grip around it's neck. The ooman gasped and clawed at him, its legs kicking out feebly in its struggle. _Impressive_, her growled. Even though it held no chance of surviving this encounter, it still fought against him with everything it had. Oomans were a very intriguing species and he suddenly wished he had more time to study his prey.

Behind him, the female had regained its barring as it crawled across the floor to reach its fallen weapon. Ci'tde was too distracted by his own prey to notice the pending attack.

Growling in distaste, Chulonte ran forward and kicked the female away from the weapon, before it was even able to grab it. The ooman flew through the air slamming into a nearby pillar and it dropped to the ground with a groan. The female spluttered and gasped as the wind had been knocked from its lungs. Chulonte stepped forward a purr escaping his throat as he stalked his prey. He had finally reached his quarry.

Extending his wrist blades he sized the female up and down and he could not see his Ki'cti-pa on it and this angered him even more. He had hoped to cleave its head from its body and retrieve his combi-stick to regain back his honor.

Even in his cloaked state, the ooman's eyes widened at the sight of his distorted image. It cowered against the stone pillar behind it until its eyes caught on something behind him. Hesitating in his attack, Chulonte had barely turned his head when a Kiande Amedha tail pierced through his middle spilling his neon green blood all over the ooman female in front of him. The ooman gasped as if it hadn't realized he was there until that moment, visibly flinching away from the blood. Chulonte grunted, his eyes narrowing on the female as he found himself pulled away from his prey, after he had finally caught up to it. The tail embedded into his stomach lifted him up off the ground and brought him around to face the Kiande Amedha that had been there hiding.

Chulonte growled despite the pain that lanced through his body. The pain had his temper flying as he realized he had become easy prey for the hard meat before him.

"Pauk-de ooman," he cursed the female. It had become his undoing.

Staring into the face of his enemy, the drooling Kiande Amedha hissed at him. Inside its open mouth, as the lips peeled back into a snarl, the inner jaw flexed. Cetanu had come to greet him in the form of his enemy. He faced the hard meat with a glare of his own and snarled in return. It seemed he would not be permitted to join his brothers in the blooded ritual back on the clanship and he realized he only had himself to blame for that. His Sire had always accused him of being too rash and that such a trait would most likely get him killed. Chulonte could see now the truth of M'dli-te's words as his own death now stared him in the face without any remorse.

He could only hope now that Paya would be more forgiving towards his brothers. The inner jaw lashed out at him, piercing through his mask and into his skull out the other side. Blood and brain matter splattered against the ooman female who cried out in fear and disgust.

Pulled away from his prey, Ci'tde turned to look over finding the female cowering against a pillar. Searching the room further he spotted his brother hanging in the air. Already the body was beginning to cool and he knew something was very wrong. Shifting through the visual spectrum in his mask to night vision, he was able to see the Kiande Amedha as it shrieked its triumph over the kill.

Rage curdled his blood and Ci'tde viciously tossed the ooman he held away as he turned to face his new enemy. Extending his wrist blades the hard meat tossed his brother aside as it turned its attention to him. Ci'tde growled as he dropped into a fighting stance, his rage clouding his mind from forming a decent plan of action.

The kiande amedha swiveled its head in his direction and lunged at him with a screech. Ci'tde was more than happy to meet it halfway as he charged the hard meat.

* * *

**(AN) Hey everyone :D I just would like to start off by saying, Thank you all for the lovely reviews. I appreciate the approval and the good feedback that was given. I know I have a long way to go to be more fluid with the Predator's POV but I am glad to hear I didn't completely fail at it :) In the Predator's POV I refer the humans as it instead of he or she mainly because I'm trying to stay within their mindset. I dont hunt, but I donno that if I did hunt... I dont think I would be referring Bambi as a He. To me, that seems like it would just make it too personal like naming a pet or something, if that makes any sense. So in my stories they refer their prey as it or called male or female.**

**I apologies for any mistakes. I edited the story but I know I still miss some of it. I am still without a beta-reader at the moment.**

**Just a couple of things before I end this, I dont own AVP, that's including Celtic, Chopper, Scar and now Grid. Elaina I do own, and like I promised she is already beginning to have to go through Hell hehehe I love torturing her :) she makes it so easy. I was sad to see Chulonte/Chopper go but I couldn't very well let them all live now could I? I have to admit, he's not the brightest Yautja out there, but he didn't do to bad up until the end I think.**

**Some Yautja words**

**Paya- Warrior God (I've heard this referenced as a female, is that correct?)**

**Oomans- Human (slang term)**

**H'ko- No**

**Mei'hswei- Brother**

**Pauk- Fuck**

**C'jit-Shit (I love this word)**

**Ki'cti-pa- Combi-stick/Spear (I love this word as well)**

**Chiva- trial**

**Kiande Amedha- hard meat/Xenomorph**

**Pauk-de- fucking**

**Cetanu- God of Death**

**Okay so I think that is all of them. If not let me know and I will clarify in the next chapter. **


	6. Chapter Five

Chapter five:

_**Bouvetoya Island  
2000 feet below the Surface  
October 10**__**th**__**, 2004**_

Rapid gunfire echoed down the dark passageway, the sound startling Elaina as it had been eerily silent for so long before now. Her only companion had been the shuffling noise her boots made against the stone floor and her heavy breathing. The stale air down here was making it hard for her to breathe. It was either that or her fear kept choking her and each breath she took would hitch and rasp. Elaina paused with one hand fisted around her flashlight and the other holding onto the collar of her jacket. She strained her ears to pinpoint exactly which direction the gunfire was coming from. Was it behind her or in front of her? She couldn't tell as the sounds that followed it bounced around the stone walls.

"Run," someone shouted and Elaina's breath hitched as she recognized her father's voice. It was coming from down the hallway in front of her, she was sure of it. She took a step in that direction, only to have her knees lock into place at the sound of a roar. It was a lot like a lion's roar but Elaina knew it came from something more frightening than any large cat could ever be.

She hesitated as the urge to flee came quick and very potent in response to the situation ahead of her. More than anything she wanted to run in the other direction and find a place to hide from the monsters that lurked in the dark. Down the hallway she could hear Max crying out in pain and Elaina's hand tightened around her flashlight as she steeled herself. Her body was more than ready to run, but instead of turning to run away, she pushed herself to run towards the commotion.

Her boots thudded against the stone floor as she raced down the length of the hallway and her flashlight lit up the path in front of her to keep her from tripping over any uneven ground while she ran. As she drew closer, she could make out the sounds of fighting. The familiar roaring and growling from the humanoid creature was unmistakable, but with it came the sound of screeching and hissing, a noise she couldn't connect with any animal she recognized. It was like something from animal planet, if the documentary was a horror film.

The faint sound of Lex's voice had Elaina pushing herself faster even though she wanted nothing more than to turn around and run the other way. To her dismay the gunfire had stopped as well as the familiar sound of Max's voice or even her father's. Now all she could hear was something like an epic battle between two animals coming from the end of the passage.

Even as her rational mind told her to flee, Elaina refused to let herself miss out on reaching her father this time. She was not going to chicken out when she was so close to catching up to them.

"Dad," she shouted as she could see light ahead in the hall. "Dad! Max!"

The walls opened up into a large chamber, larger than any she had seen before. The stone ceiling seemed to disappear into thick shadows above her head and there were stone pillars that reach up to the heavens, as they appeared never ending in the darkness.

Elaina reached a set of stairs and hurried down into the room beyond them. She lifted her flashlight searching the room as she could still hear the sounds of fighting but couldn't see where it was coming from within the room. Elaina drew in a shaky breath, her heart racing in her chest as fear seized her for a moment.

_God where is it_, she wanted to know in hopes that she could slip passed the monster unnoticed. _Where's dad?_

The vast chamber she ended up in was lit up a little better than the rest of the pyramid had been thus far, with a light in the distance glowing bright enough that she could make out shapes and objects within the shadows of the room. She could make out four stone walls that made up the large room and a set of stairs on the other side that looked similar to the ones she stood at the top of. There were pillars evenly spread throughout the room, reaching as far as the ceiling it seemed. When she turned her light over to one of the pillars and then the walls, she could see that they were decorated with strange writings. The thick symbols and pictures looked like something she had seen in a National Geographic Magazine once.

_Hieroglyphs, maybe, _her mind popped up with a name for what it was she was looking at. Not that she ever took the time to really look at one before but it seemed right, considering she was in an old pyramid. It wasn't like the walls would have English words written on them or something that she might understand. _That would be too damn easy_, she thought to herself sarcastically.

A grunt came from further into the room and Elaina whipped her flashlight around to about the center of the room. Her eyes were wide as she edged further into the room. She couldn't hear her father or max anymore. The light shook on the spot and she watched as a cloud of dust was kicked up from the fight and she could see the particles dancing in the rays of her flashlight.

Elaina yelped out a startled scream as the monster was tackled right in front of her, and she jumped back in fright. The humanoid's body had crashed into the ground and her flashlight lit up the entire scene as she was now mere few feet away from the battle going on.

_Oh god._

Elaina stared at the horrific sight in front of her. In her quick inspection of the room, she had been unable to see the two large beings fighting in the darkened corner just past the stairs and out of her line of sight when she had been at the top of the stairs. Now that she was in the room and standing close enough that she could feel the heat of the battle and was spattered with debris, she could see the pair clearly even with just her small flashlight as her main source of light.

It was the humanoid creature that had attacked them on the surface but the longer she stared at it, the more it seemed bigger and its frame more muscular than she remembered it being. Despite the fact that she had known it was here somewhere as its growls and roars were unmistakable, seeing it again this up close, nearly had her knees buckling out from beneath her as her body shook with fear. Now more than ever she wished she had just run the other way and found a different passage to take her to the expedition team. And to make matters worse, it seemed that the team had already left the room which meant she had no idea where they were now.

The fight before her, held her full attention and she could not take her eyes off the scene in front of her. It was like something from 'Fight Club' only so much more brutal. The humanoid was pinned to the ground, an angered roar coming from behind the mask it wore on its face. She could tell it was a mask now as the dark grey metal clashed against the strange coloring of its skin. The best way to describe it would be like a lizard's skin. It had that pebbled look to it and she had a feeling that it would actually be smoother than it actually looked if she touched it.

Not that she had that kind of urge at the moment. Blinking her eyes, Elaina shook her head of the strange notion to see if the humanoid's skin would actually feel like a lizard's. With its large muscular frame and broad chest, Elaina figured the thing had to be male. She could see it wore a Tarzan wannabe loin cloth with a cod piece which brought that realization home for her. Whatever this thing was, he was definitely not human.

Despite the sight of Terminator's killer there before her snarling and growling, the thing pinning him down actually scared her more. She had never seen anything like it. It was like something straight out of a horror movie.

Elaina clutched her flashlight to her chest darkening the pair but her eyes had adjusted to the dark that she could still see them. More than anything in the world she wished she could look away and get out of there while it was still safe to do, but it was much like a car crash, she found herself drawn to watch the scene unfold.

There was a black hissing monster that had the humanoid creature pinned to the ground. It looked like an alien out of a sci-fi flick, with an elongated and cylindrical head and a hunched body that appeared skeletal. The black alien screeched and hissed at the humanoid beneath it as it raked its talons across the humanoid's face. A tongue like object shot out of its opened mouth as it tried to impale him.

How had she never even heard of such a creature? Even with her limited knowledge on the animal kingdom, she was positive that if her Biology Teacher had mention something like this, she would have paid more attention in class. The black alien had the sleek body of a panther but its skeletal form and skin seemed more like an insect with the sleek black carapace.

Behind the black alien a segmented blade tipped tail waved threateningly in the air as if searching for an opening to strike at. With deadly intent, the tail lashed out aiming for the humanoid's head. The sharp tip glanced off the stone floor, just inches from his head which he had moved just barely in time to avoid the attack. The humanoid struggled against the black alien before finally lifting his leg between them and with one powerful kick, kicked the alien off of him, before it could try and impale him again.

Elaina shrieked throwing herself to the ground to avoid being tackled as the black hissing alien crashed into the pillar she had been standing next to. She scrambled away on her hands and knees struggling in the debris to gain some traction as she scurried behind another pillar. She pressed her back to the stone structure, her heart hammering in her chest as she fought to catch her breath. Fearfully, she peeked out from behind her covering. She wondered what was happening now as the humanoid roared, his voice echoing around her and hurting her eardrums in the process. She raised her hands to cover her ears to protect her eardrums as she cowered behind the pillar.

Across the room from her the black alien struggled as it spun in circles on the ground trying desperately to get up. It managed to gain some traction and scrambled to its feet, screeching as the humanoid began to advance on it. Elaina gripped the pillar, her entire body quivering as the ground beneath her feet trembled with each step the humanoid took.

The two monstrous beings met in the middle, the black alien using its tail as a weapon while the humanoid used a set of blades on his right arm to fight off the blows thrown at it. Elaina watched, her eyes huge as the two fought, either one trying to gain the upper hand over the other.

She flinched when the alien managed a blow on the humanoid knocking him off his feet with a swipe of its tail. As soon as the humanoid hit the ground the alien was quick to pin him back down, using its tail once more to impale him. The tail's blade slammed into the ground, getting stuck in the stone from the force of the impact. The humanoid took its blade and sliced the end of the tail off with one swipe. Yellowish blood splattered the ground and walls, landing on the humanoid's chest plate he wore as armor. With a screech, the alien leapt away, retreating a few steps and the humanoid was able to get back to his feet rather quickly for someone of his size.

Elaina gasped as the alien's blood bubbled and hissed eating away at any surface it touched, much like corrosive acid. The humanoid wrenched the chest plate off, throwing the now useless protection to the side. His head jerked up when the room fell eerily silent. The humanoid's head swiveled back and forth as he slid into a defensive stance with his legs spread out beneath him and his arms opened wide. He looked ready to take on an army of those black things and Elaina hoped there was only just the one.

Drawing back behind the pillar, Elaina pulled away and inched her way to the other side to get a better view as the humanoid crossed the room. She peeked out, her eyes widening to find the humanoid alone in the room with her and the black alien was gone.

_Oh god where there hell is it,_ she panicked.

Her eyes darted around the room, searching desperately for any sign of the black alien. The shadows made it difficult for her to see much of anything which made this situation all the scarier for her. Finding no evidence of where the alien might have gone to, Elaina turned her attention to the humanoid that stood in the middle of the room. He too seemed to be searching the shadows for the alien's whereabouts.

She watched him turn in a half circle, his body poised for an attack. She could see the way his muscles flexed and rippled with every movement he made. He wore very little to cover himself, only a loincloth and cod piece covering his male parts. There was some kind of fish netting he wore beneath his armor and with him now closer to her she could see it better now that he had removed his chest plate. As he turned so that he faced her direction, she could see that he wore a necklace of some sort that was made up of small skulls and bones around his neck. _Obviously he doesn't read Vogue or shop at Abercrombie and Fitch, _she mused to herself. Then she tried to picture this hulking creature going into the mall. _Not!_

She watched him back up, his head swiveling back and forth as he scanned the room. Either he couldn't see her hiding behind the pillar just ten feet in front of him or he didn't find her presence the least bit threatening. She wasn't sure which option she preferred at the moment.

As the humanoid stepped into the light of her fallen flashlight, Elaina realized that it was not the same one that had attacked her on the surface. This one was taller and much bulkier than the other one if he was standing straight she would say he was at least 7'9. His barrel chest was ripped with muscles and each of his thighs were about the width of her two thighs put together and maybe her arms thrown in the mix as well. He was absolutely massive in size. Elaina's eyes widened as she took in the rest of him. While the majority of his skin was a burnt yellow shade, the underside and along his chest was lighter like a pale canary yellow color. Once more she was put in the mind of a lizard. _Oh god it's the attack of the Lizard men._

Elaina adjusted herself in her hiding spot, her feet aching within her boots from being held still for so long in her cramped position. She couldn't even feel her toes anymore and she was sure that wasn't a good sign. She didn't dare move too far or too much though and make the mistake of drawing his attention to her. Right now she preferred his full focus on the black thing as she knew exactly what his kind was capable of. She preferred to not be at the end of those deadly blades he wore as an accessory on his arm.

The humanoid paused suddenly, his head turning as if to listen in her direction. Elaina held her breath too afraid to breathe in case he could actually hear her. The chamber fell silent and for a moment she thought maybe she had gone deaf as she couldn't hear anything. The Humanoid wasn't even making any sounds which seemed unnatural as he had been just growling and roaring just moments ago.

With the silence pressing in around her, it was then she heard the scraping sound coming from somewhere above her. Elaina strained her ears to listen and as she was crouched there silently listening for the location of the black alien, something wet and slimy dripped down onto the side of her head and her right shoulder. Grimacing, she touched the slime that now coated the side of her head and stared as it stretched from her fingertips to the side of her head when she pulled her hand away.

_What the fuck_, she wondered with disgust and a curl of her lips. _Did something just drool-_ Elaina had to swallow back the bile that rose up in her throat as she realized what that meant.

Reluctantly, she lifted her eyes from the spittle strung between her fingers to stare up at the black alien that stood perched at the top of the pillar she was hiding behind. It was slightly hidden in the alcove above her head, only its head slightly visible with her poor vision. The alien leaned back putting all of its weight onto its hind legs much like a cat would do before it pounced on its prey. Drool was pooling from its open mouth as its lips peeled back to expose its teeth.

Terror had Elaina backing away from the pillar and she forgot all about hiding from the humanoid. She could only think about putting as much distance between the black creature and herself as possible. She had barely taken two steps back from the pillar when the alien's large head swiveled in her direction much like a predator catching the scent of a more interesting prey. It stared at her for a short moment, just long enough for dread to sink into her gut. _I'm going to die-_

The alien lunged, its body turning sharply in her direction as it had found her to be a much easier target than the humanoid. With a screech it leaped after her and Elaina threw herself forward, throwing her body into an awkward roll. She landed harshly on her side, her shoulder blade popping as it connected with the stone floor and she rolled onto her back just in time to see the humanoid shoot a net at the alien.

Elaina's hands came up to defend herself as if that would protect her from the alien's sharp claws. The net collided with the creature, shortening its landing by a few inches as it slammed into the ground at her feet. The impact shattered the stone floor and the alien fell through the hole beneath it. Between her legs, cracks formed as the weakened floor began to cave in on itself and she fell in after the alien with a terrified scream.

* * *

_**Bouvetoya Island  
Somewhere Deeper in the Pyramid  
October 10**__**th**__**, 2004**_

Skl're stood in the dark listening to the silence around him. After the last pyramid shift, he had lost track of his brother's location as they had been separated. He had known chasing after the oomans would be foolish and so he had hung back and watched the pyramid walls shift and fold around him until an opening had presented itself. It had proved to be a smart decision on his part as, unlike his siblings, he had not found himself trapped within the chamber but free to roam.

The downside was that he had been separated from his brothers and he could only hope that they were taking caution as the kiande amedha were now lurking about. He hadn't come across one yet but enough time had passed that they should have molted into their adult forms by now. The Queen would soon be sending out her drones to find more prey to either feed her young or give birth to more of their kind to strengthen their numbers, if she hadn't already.

At his sides, Skl're tightened his hands into fists, his head swiveling back and forth to look down each corridor presented to him. He switched from the heat vision to night vision to inspect the walls closely in case one of the hard meats were trying to creep up on him. The Queen would know his kind was here and she would do everything in her power to kill them as quickly as possible in hopes of escaping her prison.

Think about his brothers know, Skl're doubted Chulonte and Ci'tde would take caution with the plasma casters so close to their grasps and with another trophy within reach-

Skl're huffed beneath his breath in irritation at his brothers' irksome traits. Without him there to be their voice of reason, it was only a matter of time before their brash behavior would get them killed. They needed more discipline in his opinion, but then what did that say about himself? It was no less his fault for the situation they had found themselves in. He was just as guilty as they were it seemed.

Before their Chiva Skl're had watched his younger brothers as they pumped themselves into a frenzy, excited about the trial ahead of them. Skl're would admit that he was thrilled with the idea of being blooded and able to make his way through the ranks of their clan finally. No longer would he be looked down upon by the others but actually praised for his rank and standing. As eager as he was to complete his Chiva blooded, he had not boasted with his brothers the amount of kills he would gather. He knew this battle would be hard and tedious for them, many didn't make it out of their Chiva alive and it was unheard of to make it out unscathed.

Though in all the recordings of trials before theirs, he could not recall ever seeing one go so badly. Of course he had seen many trials where none of the young bloods had returned, either wiped out by the Kiande Amedha or by their own bomb. He had never seen the ooman's mess up a Chiva so completely like they had in this one.

_We're to blame. Not the oomans,_ he knew.

Instead of taking their time on the surface to hunt the oomans like they had, they should have gone down and retrieved their plasma casters and initiated the Chiva before the Oomans had even gotten the chance to investigate the pyramid. Skl're knew all too well the cunningness of Oomans, as the female that had sired him had taught him much about how devious and cunning the pyode amedha could be. His own mother had nearly lost her life in a battle against an ooman many seasons ago, long before he had been born but she had been adamant to teach all of her suckling the treachery of oomans.

Despite all of her teachings, Skl're had forgot his mother's wise words and he had allowed his brother's excitement to bleed into his own emotions and he had found himself lost in the thrill of the hunt. He was no better than them, but felt he had learned a valuable lesson in his mistake. He could only hope that he could make it out of his Chiva, so as to prove he had grown and learned from this trial.

So here he stood, waiting and listening for any sound that would give the ooman's their current location. His map had indicated that they would be heading in his direction but it had been unable to tell him from which corridor they would be taking. He only had to wait and see where it was they were coming from as he stood in the center of two connecting corridors. The path he had taken to get this far was behind him, which left only the one in front of him and the two on either side. Which corridor should he take as he had three choices to choose from? Skl're remained silent for now, listening for a while longer until he finally heard what it was he had been listening for.

_Voices._

"Stop- I, I need to stop," Charles Weyland gasped. Since leaving the previous chamber, Lex and Sebastian had been carrying most of his weight as they tried to put as much distance between them and the creatures.

Lex and Sebastian ignored his pleas at first as they entered a room with a flight of stairs. Charles' could feel his lungs constricting against the idea of climbing all of the steps laid out before them. He could barely breathe as it was. With all the excitement from the other chamber, and the two fighting aliens had nearly caused his heart to give out from the rapid staccato it was doing behind his rib cage.

They had climbed the first few steps when his body locked up. Thankfully Lex seemed to notice and she indicated for them to set him down.

"Weyland," she called his name but he could hardly hear her voice over the pounding of his heart.

His hands absently grabbed at the collar of his coat. He wheezed out air only to quickly suck it back in a large gulp. No matter how much air he breathed it wasn't enough. Where was his inhaler? He wasn't sure if he even still had it. Since the excitement he hadn't been able to draw his thoughts enough together to make enough sense of anything beyond that he was wasn't able to breathe.

"Weyland, you need to slow down your breathing," Lex tried to reason with him. Lex covered his grasping hands with her own and looked him straight in the eyes forcing his attention to her.

Charles focused on her stare, trying not to think about anything but breathing. As he drew in a breath much slower than before, he thought about how pretty her dark eyes were. Focusing his thoughts on something other than his screaming lungs helped him to exhale slowly through his nose.

Lex coached him, trying to help him get a rhythm down. "That's better," she said and her face showed the relief she felt on his behalf.

_Why did she care so much, _he wondered. It was his fault they were down here. It was him, who demanded that they leave unprepared to discover this pyramid before anyone else. He was the reason why they were in danger even now as she kept his attention on her and following her rhythm of breathing until he had managed to get it under enough control to speak.

He could see she was worried about him, the panic and fear in her eyes as she held his stare told him that. Thinking about how scared she was made him wonder about his daughter. Where was she, was she safe?

"I'm not going to let you die down here," she said at last and he realized the depth of her fear for him.

It was like her father all over again. He recalled the story she had told them before they had descended down into the pyramid. Her father had died while under her care.

"You didn't," he managed to wheeze out between breaths.

Charles knew he was gone already and nothing on her part could save him now. Without his inhaler he would not last much longer in the dusty stale air down here. Without medical attention he would not last much longer as they were thousands of feet below the surface and miles from the ship. On the surface he could say he had a fighting chance if they got to the ship quickly, but he could feel fluid building up in his lungs and each breath he took was painful.

Forcing his attention away from his certain future, Charles grasped the lapels of Lex's jacket, forcing her to really focus on him. He needed for her to hear what he had to say. It was the only thing that mattered right now.

"You need to find my daughter," Charles begged her. "She's on the surface with her bodyguard, you must make sure she gets back to the ship with you."

Lex stared at him with wide eyes, before she turned her attention to the third person in their group. Sebastian had wondered away to keep an eye on the entrance they had come through. He was keeping watch in case one of the monsters caught up to them. It was only a matter of time before one of them caught up to them. He needed to get through to Lex before that happened though.

"Don't worry about me," he said as Lex turned to look back to look at him again. If she felt even a slim bit responsible for the lives of the expedition team, he hoped to use that guilt to make sure his daughter made it out of this hell alive. He had no idea where these creatures came from, if they had come from the surface or not. He had no way of knowing if his daughter was even- Charles swallowed hard against that thought, unable to finish it. He had to believe his daughter was still alive. "Find my daughter Lex, promise me you will find her."

Lex stared at him and he could see the hesitation in her eyes. She wasn't about to agree to leaving him behind, he could see it in her eyes. But if she had any chance of finding his daughter alive, she had to leave him as he would only slow them down.

"Promise me Lex," he demanded fiercely. His energy was leaving him and he could feel exhaustion creeping up on him.

Charles watched her face intently not letting himself to even blink as he stared hard at her. He watched as a slight nod came out of her and he took that as her promise, even if she didn't mean it.

Sebastian caught sight of a large shadow from the entrance. Panicking, the young Italian rushed to their side to help Lex pick Charles up on the steps. "Quick its coming," he shouted frantically at them.

"No," Charles argued feebly and pushed the pair away from him. He stared at them with a hardened stare as he had made his choice. "Go- find my daughter and get out of here."

"But-" Lex began but Charles had already turned away from them forcing them to drop the argument as he wasn't going to listen to their reasoning.

"Come on Lex," Sebastian encouraged her and the young Italian was pulling their reluctant guide away as he climbed the stairs.

Lex stared at Charles Weyland's back, her hands shaking as she was forcefully dragged away from the sick man. How could he expect her to just leave him there to die? How could he ask her of that?

_Elaina_, she thought about the angst filled teenager. Lex had thought she was just another spoiled little rich girl until the trip on the ice had begun. Then she had seen all the anger and attitude was all pretenses. _A shield_. The way the teenager hung around Max and her bodyguard, she had seen an entirely different side of the teen.

"I promise," Lex whispered. Before she could let change her mind and go back to the older man, Lex turned and raced up the steps with Sebastian.

Charles heard the response. He turned his head to look over his shoulder at the pair as they made their escape. Sighing in relief, he turned his attention to the creature determined to hunt them down and kill them off one by one. The monstrous being had been following them since Max had been killed.

_Max_, he thought sadly. _My old friend._

It had been heartening to see his friend die. Hardening his stare on the monster before him Charles raised his weapon, a measly pickaxe. At least he could die knowing his daughter would make it out of this alive. That at least Lex and Sebastian had a fighting chance now.

* * *

**AN: Sorry about the delay everyone but this chapter was hard to do. I wasn't sure I liked it as least the second half. But I wanted to show a little of her father's side of the situation, without following the movie too much. **

**I don't own AVP, but Elaina is mine. **

**I want to thank for all the lovely reviews and advice. I appreciate it all very much :) let me know how I did on the fight scene between Celtic and Grid. :) tell me if you love/like/hate it.**

**Inky out**


	7. Chapter Six

Chapter six:

_**Bouvetoya Island  
Deep below the Surface  
October 10**__**th**__**, 2004**_

Elaina's scream was cut short when she slammed into the ground that had hardly been ten feet from the hole she had fallen through. The blow to her body knocked the air from her lungs and she felt them constrict as her heart lodged itself in her throat. She hardly had a moment to draw in a breath of air as the ground beneath her shifted under her weight and she slid head over heels backwards. Something sharp nicked her cheek as she rolled down the short hill. Elaina came to a stop on her backpack, its bulky weight preventing her from rolling over again, thankfully as the candy bar she had eaten earlier was threatening to make a repeated visit.

She laid there with her eyes wide open staring up at the ceiling blankly. Slowly she blinked her eyes, and her vision focused on the image she was staring up at. It was the hole she had fallen through. From here it looked about the height of a house, but it hadn't felt like she had fallen that far. Elaina sucked in a breath of air, her lungs drinking it in greedily.

As the dust cleared from the room, Elaina was able to see the light filtering in from the hole above. There was a strange sizzling sound and the smell of burning fabric drew her attention down to look at her body. Seeing the front of her grey jacket bubbling and melting, Elaina tore at the straps of her backpack throwing it off of her before tearing at her jacket. She had just barely gotten the outer layer off before the acid blood had eaten all the way through it. Scared, she checked her second jacket but found it had just barely singed the top lining of the blue jacket over her stomach.

Elaina breathed a sigh of relief and she dropped back down on her backpack which kept her slightly propped up off the floor. It was now as she laid there catching her breath and reining in her fear that she took note of other sounds in the room with her.

There was something hissing and screeching on the other side of the pile she laid partially on. Raising her head, she found the black alien that had tried to kill her was rolled up tight into the fetal position. The net that had ensnared it and in turn saved her life was constricting around the alien's body. The more the alien moved the tighter the net shrunk around it. Elaina had little warning but did manage to roll to her side in time to throw what little contents that had been in her stomach out onto the floor.

Hands shaking and body quivering, Elaina forced her eyes to look back at the alien. There was yellow puss like blood oozing from the grid like pattern being cut into the surface of its skull as the net slowly continued its intent of squeezing the alien to death. The light that filtered from the room above was suddenly snuffed out as a shadow fell over them. Startled, Elaina looked up in time to see the humanoid creature peer down in the hole. He looked at her briefly before he turned his attention on the alien and leaped down into the room with them.

The humanoid landed more gracefully than Elaina had, his legs having absorbed the impact as he landed on top of a skull, his weight crushing it into pieces. Elaina blinked, her eyes zeroing in on the shattered skull under his foot. As she took in the pile he stood on, she realized it was a pile of human bones.

_Jesus Christ,_ she breathed, her eyes widening at the magnitude of what that meant. _It's like a fucking boneyard straight out of the movie Descent._

Fear had her scrambling to her feet and backing away as more bile rose up in her throat. _Human bones_. Swallowing thickly, Elaina backed away from the pile. The sound of bones breaking drew her attention back to the humanoid.

The humanoid reached down to his hip and withdrew a wicked looking dagger from his belt. Eyes widening on the weapon, Elaina grabbed for her backpack that lay discarded on the ground. In the side pocket she found the spear and held the weapon uselessly in her hands. She had no idea how to wield a weapon, let alone a spear of this size. She could only hope that the two monsters would be too distracted and her spear wielding capabilities wouldn't be tested just yet.

Elaina watched the humanoid as he advanced on the screeching alien. He took his time to cross the room to reach it and before he could attack the netting around the alien broke. The black alien shrieked and lunged for the startled humanoid and knocked him to the ground.

Elaina cried out in shock, her body visibly flinching as the two beings made impact with each other. The thud that echoed from the force of the hit told her she probably wouldn't have survived it had she been in his place. When the humanoid hit the ground, the alien's swiping claws managed to knock his dagger free from his grip, disarming him. The humanoid used his brute strength to keep the alien from getting to close as its wicked looking inner mouth shot out trying to impale him.

_Oh my god._ Elaina looked from the struggling pair to the room around her. She couldn't see any exits within her line of vision but that didn't mean there wasn't one. The hole above was way too high for her to jump up to even if she tried to climb to the top of the bone pile.

Turning her eyes back to the struggling pair she swallowed the lump in her throat and found her mouth dry. Her eyes widened at the intensity, the animalistic noises they made was terrifying to listen to, let alone witnessing the battle before her eyes.

Elaina knew she was panicking but felt entitled to it and for the moment she let it consume her. If that alien killed the humanoid it would come after her, she knew it. The way it had thrown itself at her even with the danger of the humanoid back in the room up above them, told her it was hankering for a bite of her. She visibly shuddered at the thought of being eaten alive. Just by a normal animal it seemed like a horrible way to die and she couldn't imagine a worse way to go then letting that black thing get ahold of her.

For one split second she considered making a run for it. _But then what?_ Where would she run? Where could she hide that either of these things wouldn't find her? _Nowhere_, her rational mind told her. There wasn't anywhere she could hide or run in this pyramid. Not only did she have to worry about the black thing wanting to eat her, but there was the humanoid that had followed her down in the pyramid. Despite all her efforts of running from him, he had caught up to her which meant he could easily do so again. It wasn't like she knew where the expedition team was. She had been running around down here for hours and she had only been able to just barely catch up to them twice and each time she lost them.

_Were they even alive?_ She knew she had to start thinking that it was possible that she was the only human left down here. She had no idea how many of these things were down here and she needed to start thinking of a plan. _Something other than running around blindly._

Elaina tightened her grip on the spear in her anxiety. The weight of the weapon brought a sense of reassurance to her, until the ends extended outward on her. Elaina flinched at the sound of metal against metal, her eyes darting to the spear she gripped so tightly. She drew in a ragged breath of air, finding that her chest felt unusually tight. Slowly she lifted her gaze back to the pair and her decision seemed to be made before her mind processed on what she was agreeing to do. She wasn't even aware that she was moving towards the struggling pair instead of running in the other direction.

Ci'tde could feel his strength waning as he fought to keep the kiande amedha at bay. He could feel drops of the creature's blood landing against his bare chest and a hoarse cry escaped him as the acidic blood ate into his skin. He had his right hand wrapped around the hard meat's neck trying to keep the inner mouth far enough away from him as it tried to use the appendage as a weapon. With each drop of blood he could feel his strength and rage leaving him as the pain grew to be unbearable. His arm buckled under the strength of kiande amedha and Ci'tde stared into the face of his better. He felt shame wash over him as he realized he had brought this defeat onto himself. Like his brother he had lost his life because of his foolishness. This would be his punishment, to suffer the same fate as his brother by the enemy's hands.

Elaina charged across the room as the humanoid lost his control over the situation. She could see him buckling under the alien's strength and the alien leaned in with a triumphant screech. As the inner mouth lashed out for the killing blow, the end of her spear slammed into the side of its head. The inner mouth scratched the surface of the humanoids mask and Elaina stared at the quivering lips as saliva dribbled down from its open mouth. Her weight against the spear shoved the alien to the side and Elaina lost her footing as the bone her foot had landed on shifted and she fell across the humanoid's stomach, an oomph escaping her. She lost her hold on the spear as the alien slid down the pile of bones taking her spear with it.

Elaina blinked as she found herself draped over the humanoid awkwardly. She didn't dare breathe as she lay there, feeling the steady rise and fall of his chest as the humanoid breathed. Slowly Elaina lifted her head, her eyes wide with fear as she looked over at his face. This was the closest she had ever gotten to one before, not that she had very many encounters with them so far. Still this was a lot closer than she ever wanted to be with one.

His face was terrifying. The mask that he wore was expressionless and she couldn't tell what he might be thinking as he stared back at her. Trapped under his unweaving stare, Elaina stared at the mask, taking in all the harsh edges and blunt angles that made up the dark grey metal. There were four long scratches across the forehead and face from where the alien had gotten in a good swipe at him during the fight. The lower jaw of the mask extended outwards quite a bit and the nose was more set inward.

It seemed like he had a serious case of an overbite with a pug like nose and Elaina couldn't stop the bubbling hysteria that came forth as the image crossed her mind. The sound of her laugh seemed to startle the humanoid more than her as he visibly flinched beneath her. Nevertheless Elaina was up and off of him as quickly as her legs would carry her.

She stood a few feet away as he slowly got to his feet and shook himself. He stared at her for a good long moment before he turned his head to look at where the alien had fallen. Elaina looked to and found that it was a few feet away from them with a spear sticking out of its head. She held still as she wasn't sure what to do as the humanoid stared at the now very dead alien. Should she run for it or wait and see what he does? Her mind felt torn as her fear told her to run screaming from the room, while the more stubborn side of her held her rooted to the floor. Instead she studied the dead alien as for once it was holding pretty still. It was leaking its yellow acid blood all over the ground and the sizzling noise reminded her of bacon being cooked, which had her stomach growling at the thought of food.

At the sound of her stomach, the humanoid turned his attention back to her. At his sudden movement, Elaina turned her eyes back to him in alarm. She immediately forgot about her empty stomach as fear spiked within her heart making it lurch painfully within her chest. The humanoid cocked his head to the side as he watched her now, finding something fascinating as he wouldn't look away this time.

If she didn't know any better she would almost say he seemed as confused and unsure of what to do as she was. The minutes crawled by as Elaina barely allowed herself to breathe in fear that any sudden move on her part would get her head detached from her body. She didn't dare look away in case he decided to attack, and she wanted the amount of time it would take for him to try and reach her as a head start in running away. After what seemed like hours he finally seemed to make a decision on what she should do, as he turned back to the alien and walked over to it.

Elaina's eyes followed the humanoid as he approached the black alien. She watched him inspect the carcass and even kick it to make sure it was dead. When it didn't move he turned his head to look back at her and huffed beneath his breathe before turning back to the body in front of him.

Elaina took the moment to breathe regularly, her pounding heart slowly its speed somewhat to where she could actually hear over the sound of it beating in her ears. She found herself curious about the humanoid as she tried to peer over at him to see what he was doing. She was surprised that he hadn't killed her for falling on top of him and then laughing at him. Unable to see passed his larger size, she decided to see what he was up to. She approached him cautiously, afraid that any quick movements would end with her immediate death. The humanoid tore the spear from the alien's head and inspected the weapon closely.

His hand tightened over the middle of it and the ends slid back unto itself. It was at this moment that he turned his attention back to her as if to ask her how she came across such a weapon. There was a slow rattling trill that came from the humanoid and Elaina wasn't sure if it was speaking or just making noises at her. Seeing that it might be better to explain herself, she decided to do just that.

"I-I didn't mean to take it," she said at first. "I only took the stick because- well it fell down the tunnel with me and it saved my life, so I figured I could use it." She swallowed thickly and waved a hand at the dead alien, "Obviously I was right."

Ci'tde looked down the spear in his hand. His translator was having a hard time keeping up with all that she said, but he could make out some of the words she had spoken. This was the female that had bested his brother. She had disarmed him and even killed one of the kiande amedha. _Impressive_, his rumbled deep in his throat. Holding the combi-stick out to her, he tried to give it back to her. It was rightfully hers now.

"Oh-" she blinked at the offered spear. With shaking hands she took the offered weapon and held it loosely in her hands. Thank you."

Pointing down at the combi-stick, he said, "Ki'cti-pa."

Elaina raised her eyebrows at the humanoid, more shocked by the fact that he spoke, then on what he had said. Slowly she shook her head at him unsure what he wanted from her. He repeated the word while pointing at the spear and Elaina shook her head again not understanding.

"I don't know what that means," she admitted. "Look- how about I just call it a spear instead of stick, does that work for you?"

Ci'tde looked at the spear and then turned his head to stare at Elaina again. He nodded his head, consenting to her term as it was close enough and she was shocked once more that he understood her.

"Oh wow," she whispered feeling light headed all of a sudden. "This is just insane. I am talking to a- a- hell I don't even know what the hell you are. Are you an alien? An animal? A genetically altered human?" Elaina groaned out loud, her hands going up to her head as a headache started to form at her temples. This was just too much for her to handle right now. "Or maybe you're a demon and this is hell, it feels like hell- well maybe not hot enough. But hell could be frozen over- who really knows, right?"

Elaina turned her back to the humanoid and she stumbled over to where her backpack laid discarded. She tried desperately to ignore the sound of bones breaking under her weight as she stumbled over the pile that littered the ground. Unfortunately there wasn't a spot that she could avoid stepping on what was once someone's fibula or collarbone, of even the occasional skull which she avoided at all cost.

One bone she particularly stepped on broke under her weight and she visibly flinched at the loud snap that echoed off the walls around her. _That does not mean I'm fat_, she tried to reason with herself. She always believed she was at a good weight for her height despite that her mother always told her that she could afford to lose twenty pounds. _It just means the bones are old and brittle_, she said to herself. _Old and brittle human bones_. She shuddered at those thoughts as more bile rose up in her throat.

Elaina made it to where she had left her backpack and fell to her knees in front of it. She set the spear down on the ground next to her to free up her hands. Unzipping the top, she rifled through the contents inside. She first grabbed a bottle of water, broke the seal with a twist of the cap and downed the contents to help fight back the vomit that wanted to force its way up. Her stomach settled after she drank the first half but still ached from the lack of substance inside it. Sighing as her thirst was temporarily quenched, Elaina capped the bottle and put it back into her bag. Next she riffled through the clothes she had packed and a small triumphant cry escaped her at the sight of her bag of candy. She'd give anything for something more filling but as she hadn't packed any real food, her candy was all she had. Terminator's bag had the RME's in it and that was back on the surface in the truck where he had left it. Elaina stilled at the reminder of Terminator and she turned to look at the humanoid behind her.

She wanted to ask him about her bodyguard but the words failed her as she stared at the hulking form watching her every move. He seemed curious and so far he had refrained from attacking her. She wanted more than anything to get answers but the fear of pissing him off or reminding him that he killed her kind was keeping her silent. Turning her attention back to the matter at hand, Elaina fought the tears as she shoved her backpack aside. She rolled over to sit on her rear and tore into Ziploc bag with a vengeance. She found a king size Butterfinger and tore into the packaging. She needed something to fill her empty stomach and hopefully also might calm her nerves. She feared she was going to pass out from all that had happened to her since Terminator had left her behind in the truck. It was all just a little overwhelming.

Everything seemed so surreal and scary that her mind was having a hard time coping with it. She was trapped in a pyramid with monsters and aliens, things she hadn't believed existed but she knew now that they were very much real. They were like a nightmare she couldn't wake up from.

To her dismay the humanoid abandoned his stance of just watching her from afar and decided to join her on her side of the room. She had been hoping for a moment of peace while she scraped together the remaining strips of her sanity before she tackled this new turn of events.

Ci'tde stopped in front of the female and mimicked her seated position on the ground, grunting when something jabbed him from behind. He shifted and pulled a nasty looking bone that had been broken in half and the sharp end had small traces of blood on it. He touched the red substance, before looking up at female sitting in front of him. She was staring at him with wide fearful eyes and his eyes studied her image as his mask zoomed in on her face. There was a small cut on her cheek and a trickle of blood soaked the collar of the skins she wore. Grunting, he tossed the bone aside and his eyes fell onto the brightly colored wrapping she had tossed aside. He picked it up from where she had discarded it and turned it over to study the other side of it.

Elaina stared mid-bite at his hands. _My god he's got some freaking huge hands,_ she couldn't help but compare the size of his hands to her own. Each finger ended with a sharp talon which at this moment held her attention as his finger tore into the wrapper by accident, like it was mere tissue paper.

He seemed awfully fascinated by the wrapper and she had to wonder what he would think of an actual candy bar. Curious to see what he would do, Elaina reached into her bag and withdrew a Crunch bar and held it out to him.

"Here," she said catching his attention.

He dropped the wrapper, finding this new item more interesting and took the offered candy. Elaina watched him discreetly while she ate her own meal.

Ci'tde turned the candy over in his hands, noticing that this was not the same as the one he had been inspecting. The texture was different and he wondered what it was used for. Watching the female, he saw her eating and he looked back down at the item in his hands. Food, she had given him food. He chittered beneath his breath, finding her fascinating once more but the sound of his stomach growling told him he needed nourishment as much as she did. Ci'tde set the food aside and reached up to his mask and unhooked the hoses in the back. Carefully he grasped the sides and removed the mask from his face and set it down next to him.

Elaina forgot how to breathe as she stared in horror at the face revealed behind the mask. _Holy Jesus-_

If she had any inclination that this thing was anything but an alien, those thoughts were gone the moment she saw his face. His skin was pale yellow like the undersides of his arms were. He had a large forehead and the strange appendages at the back of his head were not part of his mask but in fact seemed to be his version of hair. The thick leathery ropes fell like dreadlocks just past his shoulders in length and at the top of his crown and along the sides of his face were small spines sticking out of his skin. His eyes which appeared to be the only thing on him that seemed human were sunk back into his head under the large forehead and their color was the shade of an amber stone. The rest of his face was terrifying to say the least. There was no nose that she could see and the whole lower half of his face seemed to consist of his mouth. Four crab like mandibles spread out into a macabre version of a smile revealing sharp teeth within a pale pink inner mouth.

Ci'tde didn't realize the female was staring at him as he was preoccupied with the knowledge that he was going to be able to supply his stomach with nourishment. He reached over for the food again, studying it closely now with his own eye sight and not of the mask. It was brightly colored he noted and wondered about the purpose of that. Lifting his eyes he turned to study the female to make sure it was actually edible.

Not wanting to be caught staring, Elaina looked away quickly to pretend that she was busy eating her own candy but her stomach was clenched and she felt that if she tried to eat she was going to puke it back up. She found it hard to swallow and each bite was like a rock hitting her stomach. She wanted more than anything to drink another bottle of water as the candy in her mouth had left it feeling like it was stuffed with cotton balls. The chocolate was not as comforting as she had thought it would be.

Elaina was startled from her predicament, when the humanoid spat the candy bar out and it landed in front of her crossed legs. Staring at the candy, she felt her stomach twist as the sight of it still in its wrapping and coated in his saliva. _Okay that's just really gross. _It took her a few swallows to keep the bile in her stomach from coming out.

For a split second she considered just letting him starve. She had heard his stomach growl earlier and knew he was as hungry as she was if not more so. He was a pretty big guy and she had a feeling he could put away the food. _What a waste of a perfectly good candy bar,_ she thought annoyed. Crunch bars were one of her favorites too. It was the first candy bar she ever ate and it was because of it, she had found her love for chocolate. Her mother didn't let her eat sweets or anything that could be fattening. Terminator had taken pity on her one evening when her mother had sent her to bed without anything to eat because she had refused to eat dinner that night. _Fish_, she recalled the meal as it had happened many times in the early years of her life. Elaina hated fish and anything to do with seafood. Terminator had snuck into her room with the hidden candy and gave her half to help quench her growling stomach.

"You dork," she muttered weakly. She shook her head of the memory and swallowed one more time before she worked up the nerve to pick up the saturated wrapper. With just the tips of her index finger and thumb, she tore the candy wrapper open. Taking a moment to wipe one hand on the leg of her pants she grimaced at the sight of his saliva coating the fabric there.

"You have to open it before you eat it," she explained carefully to him.

She carefully removed the crunch bar from the wrapper and tried to hand it back to him. She did all of this without looking at him. She couldn't bear to look at him again, not without puking. Her stomach was in knots and the slightly melted candy bar she held out to him was not helping.

Ci'tde looked at the food warily his mandibles pulled in tight to his face. The food had tasted horrible and he doubted taking off the first layer would help it taste any better. He grimaced at the sight as the female tried to give it to him. He growled his displeasure.

"H'ko," he said with disgust. He would rather go hungry and just wait until he made it back to the clan ship to satisfy his hunger.

Elaina looked up at the sound of his growl, the noise scaring her as she had her hand hanging out there in-between them. He didn't look angry but in fact his expression gave her the impression of a petulant child that refused to eat their vegetables after they were told to eat them. She sighed out loud, her patience wearing a little thin. It might have been how exhausted she felt or maybe she was tired of being terrified. Her temper rose with her annoyance.

"Here," she muttered. She broke the candy in half and offered him one half and kept the other half for herself. "We'll share it."

Still he seemed reluctant to try the candy again as he refused to take the offered chocolate from her. She rolled her eyes at him and taking her half brought the slightly melted chocolate to her mouth. It took everything she had not to gag as she took a bite of the candy and chewed. She made a strangled sound of reassurance. "Mmm- it's good, see."

Ci'tde watched her eat for a moment longer before finally taking the candy from her. He brought the sweet to his mouth sniffing wearily at it. It smelled good, he had to admit and he couldn't describe the scent as he had never smelled anything like it before.

Elaina watched, slightly fascinated at the mandibles that took hold of the candy and brought it closer to his mouth. She noticed that at the end of each mandible was a pointed tusk that gripped the candy and fed it to his dangerous looking mouth. After he chewed and swallowed a tongue like appendage came out and licked the ends of his tusks, cleaning away any traces of chocolate. _That was one seriously long tongue_, she mused to herself. She was just a bit freaked out by the whole display.

Ci'tde licked away any trace of the food as the taste seemed to explode in his mouth. It was sweet, sweeter than any fruit he had ever eaten and he found that he liked it a lot. Finding all trace of it gone, he turned his eyes onto the female again, eyeing the last bit of food she held in her hands. She hadn't finished her half yet. He could feel his stomach rumble in pleasure at being fed but it was nowhere close to being filled yet.

"I take it you liked it then," she commented out loud as he eyed the rest of her of her butterfingers that she hadn't finished yet.

Elaina took another candy out of the Ziploc bag and handed it over to him. She watched as he peeled back the wrapper this time and ate the candy quickly. It appeared this hulking humanoid creature liked sweets. She pegged him more of a meat eater type but that just goes to show, you never can tell about people just by looking at them.

_Isn't that the truth, _she thought sheepishly. Everything about this guy in front of her made her instincts scream for her to run and here she sat sharing her candy with him.

"It's called a Crunch bar, if you like that, you'll really like the Reese's Peanut butter cup but we'll have to save that for later. I don't have that many left," she said looking at her dwindling bag of candies. She resealed the bad and stuffed it into her backpack.

Ci'tde nodded his head slowly, not understanding what a Reese's Peanut butter cup was but agreed with her anyway. He understood the need to save rations but he found himself more surprised that she was willing to share hers with him. He watched her put away her bag of food. His stomach rumbled in disappointment but he ignored it for now as she had promised him a Reese's Peanut Butter cup.

Reluctantly, he tore his eyes from her bag to study the female before him. She looked similar to all of the other oomans he had come across since his Chiva began. Smaller though, he mused and his eyes gauged her height even with them both sitting. She might reach his chest in height if they were both standing. What little skin he could see, looked soft and delicate, was a cream color. She had exotic coloring, the cheeks on her face were a light rose color as she avoided eye contact with him and they contrasted well with her paler hide. Her long mane of red hair was pulled back from her face into a low ponytail at the back of her neck. The thin strands took on the color of her blood, which he could see trickling out of the scratch on her cheek.

He wouldn't say she was beautiful but had an exotic beauty that only an alien could have. He had never seen a human this close before, at least not one that he hadn't killed or tried to kill and he mused that in her own way she was lovely to look at. He had the strange urge to touch her hair to see if it was as soft as it looked. She was nothing like the females on his clan ship, whom he had only seen from afar aside from his own mother. The Yautja females towered over the males and more often than not were more ferocious. He had seen this female's abilities with the Ki'cti-pa and they were not to be desired. She was small and very clumsy.

The female made a squeaky sound at the back of her throat and Ci'tde focused his attention back to see that while in his distraction he had been reaching out to touch her hair. Embarrassed, he clenched his fist and redirected its direction to reach over for his mask. Now that they were done eating, he needed to focus on getting out of here and finding his brother. Skl're was out there somewhere and he needed to make sure he was okay.

Elaina hardly breathed when the humanoid had started to reach out for her. She at first thought he was furious with her for denying him more food. Or hell, maybe he had caught her staring and found it an insult. To her surprise though he stopped what he was doing, which she took as his intent of wrapping his hand around her neck and squeezing the life out of her and instead reached over for his mask.

She breathed a sigh of relief, her eye blinking back the irritation of being left open for so long. With shaking hands, she reached over to her bag and pulled out a bottle of water. She uncapped it and held it out to the humanoid before he could put his mask on.

"Here," she said meekly, her eyes staring intently at her lap. "Its water." She added when he didn't take the bottle from her. She lifted her head to look at him. _It's getting easier to look at him_, she mused to herself. He had really pretty eyes. If she kept her eyes on his and not look south down to his mouth she could bare looking at him.

Ci'tde looked from the female to the offered drink. _Interesting,_ he thought. First she offered him her food and now she offered him her liquid. She was a strange being, nothing like his Sire had taught him. Taking the offered bottle when she looked up at him and held his stare, he downed the contents in just two swallows. The female seemed amazed by this as she stared opened mouth at him as he consumed the liquid. Surprisingly the water tasted cool and fresh despite the flimsy container it was carried in.

He tossed the bottle aside and pointed to himself. "Yautja," he said answering her question from earlier. He splayed his hand across his chest, to get his point across to her. As she continued to stare at him, he moved to point at her. "Pyode amedha."

Elaina frowned at him as the humanoid repeated the words once more for her and also pointing to himself and then to her respectively. "Does that mean human," she asked him wearily, she wasn't sure what he trying to tell her. _Does that mean Yaut-a is his term for what his kind is or is that supposed to be his name?_ Hopefully this pyode amedha wasn't a pet name for her, because she could not deal with that right now.

Ci'tde shook his head as she misinterpreted what he was saying. He pointed to her again. "Ooman, pyode amedha," he corrected. He suddenly wished he had paid more attention to his Sire when he taught him some of the basic ooman language. He'd never thought he needed to know what his prey had to say as he was going to kill them and take their skull as a trophy.

Elaina blinked slowly as she struggled to decipher his words. It was difficult as his words consisted of a lot of clicks, trills and growls. "Okay human I understand, but this pode meda thing- I'm not sure what you mean by that."

He grunted beneath his breath as the language barrier between them became very apparent to him. Skl're was the one more knowledgeable in ooman words. His older brother liked knowing everything about their prey to give him a better insight on the hunt. Ci'tde didn't see the point up until now. Turning to the wrist guard on his right arm, he opened it up to reveal his computer inside.

Elaina blinked at this and she leaned forward to get a better look at the devise on his wrist and watched as he typed at something on it.

Suddenly a disjointed voice spoke out loud in a computerized human language, "Human- soft meat. Soft meat calls Yautja Predator."

It took her a moment to decipher the meaning, as it didn't really come out in a full sentence but choppy words in a disjointed voice. Elaina's eyes widened with realization to what he was telling her. She stared at him with a horrified opened mouth expression on her face.

"Oh my god you eat humans," she whispered and she jerked back away from him as if excepting him to make a sudden lunge for her.

She tripped over her backpack in her haste to get away and fell head over heels down the pile of bones. She landed in a heap at the bottom, her breath coming out in ragged gasps. Beneath her ribs, her heart raced a strange staccato beat. It a while before she was able to hear anything over the roaring sound of her blood rushing and beating heart inside her ears.

A rattling cough and huffing noise drew her attention from the flare of pain in her knees and wearily she peered up over her shoulder from where she laid on her stomach. Her legs were tangled up in the straps of her backpack that had kept her from making a clean getaway. She stared at the imposing humanoid behind her and noticed he hadn't even tried to chase her but instead stayed in his seated position. She eyed him closely trying to pinpoint exactly the noise he was making and what it meant.

_He's laughing at me,_ she realized. She could tell by the way his shoulders shook uncontrollably and when he drew in a breath of air, he snorted. She glared openly at him.

_It's not funny,_ she fumed to herself.

Her body hurt enough as it was and now she had added even more aches and pains to her list of injuries. Then it dawned on her that it was actually her fault that she had caused herself more injuries and not the humanoids. Relief coursed through her as she dropped her weary forehead back down against the ground and just laid there feeling suddenly exhausted.

Okay so it wasn't like he had tried to hurt her yet or even try to salt and pepper her for flavor so that he could eat her_. But what the hell did that mean then, soft meat-?_ _Alright, so maybe that's their name for humans? What the hell else am I supposed to think, when he calls himself a Predator and then calls me a soft meat, dammit? Argh he's still laughing at me- great I amuse the Predator, I guess that's better than pissing him off-._

_Oh my god- this is getting way to out of control,_ she groaned as her temples began to pulsate with the start of a headache.

Ci'tde climbed to his feet once he regained control over himself. He had never been so amused in his entire life. _This little ooman is funny,_ he concluded. He grunted as one of the bones bit into the palm of his hand as he pushed himself to his feet but he ignored the pain. Carefully, so not to alarm the scared female he slowly approached her. She was making strange moaning noises with her head resting against the ground. _ Perhaps she's hurt herself_, he thought. _She's so fragile_- he was surprised she hadn't broken yet.

Ci'tde stepped on a bone with enough force to break it and the sound drew the female's startled attention. With a loud gasp she rolled over onto her back, her legs tangling even more in the straps of her bag. Her eyes stared wildly at him and he could scent her fear in the air as she stared up at him. The female had misinterpreted his definition for her kind and he wasn't sure how to correct it without scaring her further. He normally didn't have patience for things like this, but he felt honor bound to find the bit of patience he did have deep within him and exercise it now. He would only disgrace his clan if he killed the female in a fit of annoyance over her fear of every little thing he did or said to her.

Cautiously, he knelt down near her legs. He held her stare and with one hand raised a hand up between them, his palm facing her as if to tell her to wait. He watched her eyes flicker to his hand then back to his face. When he began to move his other hand though, her eyes flew to it, to track its path. Ci'tde approached the situation, much like he would have with a wounded Yautja-hound. With great caution, he reached for her legs and the straps.

"What are you doing," she yelped when his hand had wrapped around her foot. Ci'tde took a moment to compare the tiny appendage in his grasp. He trilled to himself, _so fragile_. It amazed him she had survived this long without any help from the other oomans. He couldn't see any weapons on her beside his brother's combi-stick. He had scanned her backpack earlier and it hadn't been holding any of the burners the rest of the ooman's had been carrying.

Ci'tde untangled the straps from around her legs before letting her go. She didn't scoot away from him or try to flee like he expected her to. Instead her eyes studied him and then looking down at her free legs, she pursed her lips in thought. She had such a fleshy mouth and he wondered what uses it had as he never seen it on any other kind of species before. He would have the ask his Sire when he returned to the ship or maybe consult with Skl're, he might now the purpose.

Ci'tde stood, making sure to move slowly as the female's eyes darted back to him again. Now he held his hand out to her to offer his assistance in helping her up.

Elaina stared at the outstretched hand and wondered how much of an insult he might find it to be if she refused to take it. She knew from experience how strong those hands could be as she nearly had her wrist broken by one of them earlier. She really didn't want to find out if by not accepting it just might make him change his mind on eating her after all. Elaina reached up and wrapped her much smaller hand around his thumb. He heaved her up to her feet with very little effort.

"Jeeze caveman, just how strong are you," she muttered and wiped her hands down on the leg of her pants to wipe off some of the grime. She had scrapped her palms pretty good, enough to break the skin and bleed a little. There were bits of dust and other things in the small cuts there and she worried for a moment how long she could go before having to worry about infection.

She tilted her head up to look at him suddenly as he had moved in her peripheral vision startling her out of her worried thoughts. He grunted beneath his breath and ignored her comment. He has to be like 7'9 at least, she calculated in her mind, gauging the height difference between them. This guy was nothing but muscle and by the looks of it had something like an eight pack carved into his abdomen. _Wow_, she thought, her eyes staring at his exposed chest since it was more eye level and she didn't have to crane her head back so far to look_. Somebody eats their Wheaties in the morning._

Shaking her head, Elaina took a step back from him needing the room to breathe as she found his tower figure very imposing. "Okay so you're a predator and that black thing, it's something you hunt I take it," she asked him, trying to get back to business here.

The humanoid nodded his head to her. He pointed at the alien that lay a few feet away from them. "Kiande amedha," he told her. Before she could even begin to ask what the hell that meant, he typed something into his wrist device and a mixture of voices answered her silent question. "Soft meat killed hard meat."

Elaina looked in the alien's direction. _Soft meat killed hard meat_, s_oft meat killed hard meat- _she repeated the phrase over and over in her head trying to figure out what he was telling her now. What the hell is that supposed to- _Oh, oh wait-_

"You mean I killed it?" she said looking back at him. "Oh wow- um you're right, I- I guess I did kill a- uh hard meat. I guess that's pretty cool huh?" She gave him thumbs up and a crooked smile as she said this.

"Cool," the Yautja growled out, the word coming out butchered but it was definitely English. He cocked his head to the side and tried mimicking her thumbs up.

"Yea, cool means awesome, or good," she explained, trying not to laugh at him. He looked so ridiculous giving her a thumbs up it was hard not to laugh at him.

"Cool," the Yautja repeated the word and gave her a thumbs up.

Elaina hid her laugh with a strangled cough. "Yea exactly," she added, biting her bottom lip to keep from smiling at him. The last thing she needed was for him to feel insulted or something.

"So what do I call you," she asked him. "I'm sure you don't want me to be like 'hey Predator', or 'what's up Pred', or something asinine as that."

The confused look he sent her made her chuckle. "Um- do you have a name, something I can call you? Like, I'm Elli," she said pointing to herself. She splayed her hand out across her chest like he had done to himself earlier. "My name is Elli." She reached out and touched his chest, feeling the scales that felt smooth to the touch, just as she thought they would be. "What's your name?"

He looked down at her hand on his chest and a deep rumbling purr burst forth from him. It was so intense that she could feel it all the way to her toes. Startled, Elaina pulled her hand back wondering what the hell that was all about. He had sounded like a well sated kitten or like an idling diesel engine. She had felt the vibrations of that purr right down to her core and it left her fingers feeling rather tingly. When she pulled her hand away, his purr stuttered and abruptly stopped as he lifted his head back up to stare at her.

"I- I'm sorry," she said quickly, tucking her hand behind her back and looking up at him. "Are you okay?" she asked after a moment of silence. His expression told her as much as a brick wall would as to what he was feeling inside.

Instead of answering her though, he looked back down to his chest with a tilt of his head. _Great_, she thought, _I've created some kind faux pas with the guy._ Elaina watched as he lifted his hand and touched the spot over his chest where she had put her hand. His fingers splayed out for a moment before he tightened his hand into a fist.

Her eyes widened in alarm, immediately thinking he was pissed at her for touching him and she was quick to apologies. "I'm sorry big guy for uh, whatever insult I might have done- that was not my intention at all," Elaina began to ramble nervously with a wide display of her hands to indicate how immensely sorry she was over the matter. She would just avoid touching him all together from now on if he chose to spare her life for this one mistake.

At her words his head snapped back up to stare at her. A rumbling growl escaped him that had the hairs on the back of her neck rising up in warning. She felt as if she was digging her own grave the longer she stood there in his presence. Maybe it was be just be best if they went their separate ways? She would give him the spear back and they could go their own ways and everyone, that being her, would be left in one piece.

He made the sound again and she realized that he was actually talking to her instead of just growling at her. Maybe she hadn't pissed him off, because his eyes didn't look angry now that she took the time to study them, if anything he looked annoyed with her for some reason. _Oh_, she realized with a flush to her cheeks. _He's trying to tell me something._

"I'm sorry what did you say," she asked him while leaning in closer to hear him. He could try speaking a little bit louder in her opinion.

He growled it the word out again, "Ci'tde."

Her brows furrowed together as she tried saying the word in her head. What she came up with made no sense to her and she tried thinking back on their conversation. _Oh! _

"So wait your name is Celtic," she asked him, her lips pursed together into a frown. _ That is a very human name for an alien, _she mused to herself.

Ci'tde cocked his head to the side. He seemed reluctant at first but then nodded his head confirming what she said. He touched his chest and with some difficulty said the name, "Celtic."

As he said it, Elaina realized that wasn't exactly the name he had given her. She frowned up at him, trying to recall just how he had said his name, but with all the clicking and growling it was really hard to hear the exact pronunciation underneath.

"Celtic," he repeated a little easier this time and she figured he didn't want to play the guessing game with her any more. She would admit she was kind of tired of it as well.

Ci'tde reached out and touched Elaina's chest much like she had done to him. She felt her heart stutter in her chest at the warmth that flowed from just the touch of his hand on her chest. She straightened her spine and sucked in a sharp breath of air. Her eyes widened a little as she stared down at his hand that easily splayed across her whole chest. Any further down and she could accuse him of copping a feel.

"Elli," he growled her name.

A small hysterical laugh escaped her as she lifted her head to look at him. She liked the way her name sounded when he said it. His tusks clicked together when he spoke and his voice was deep and gravelly sounding. She wondered if it hurt for him to speak. His voice sounded like he gargled nails. It sounded painful to her and could only imagine it wasn't comfortable or easy for him to speak her language.

Placing her hand over his, she wasn't nearly startled as much this time as before when he started purring again. The intensity of the purr though was a little distracting. She bit her lip to keep her smile small as she stared at him.

"Yea that's right, I'm Elli."

* * *

**AN: Alrighty here is Chapter six, I hope it is to all of your liking. It was really tough, I think I've written and rewritten this chapter over and over again. I'm pretty happy with it, but I feel like I am missing something in there but oh well.**

**I don't own AVP but Elaina is mine.**

**So if there is any confusion on Celtic's name here is my brief explanation on it. Now I connot even begin to claim that I can speak Yautja words, but the way I've been pronouncing Ci'tde's name is like Ce'ty, so I was thinking with him talking in a real gravely voice and with the clicking of his tusks and trills while he talks, well I can see Elaina mixing his name up and calling him Celtic by mistake. Hope that clears that up ^.^**

**Talk to you all in the next chapter then,**

**Inky out.**


	8. Chapter Seven

Chapter seven:

_**Bouvetoya Island  
Boneyard Room in the  
Undiscovered Pyramid  
October 10**__**th**__** 2004**_

While Ci'tde took stock of his weapons, Elaina had busied herself with repacking her backpack. After putting away her bottle of water and bag of candy, she zipped the bag shut and slipped the straps over her shoulders. Kneeling down she retrieved the spear he had handed to her and slipped it into the side pocket for safe keeping. Feeling as ready as she ever could be in this nightmare, she turned to see what Ci'tde was entertaining himself with. She found him busy working with the alien she had killed and ultimately saved his life in the process. Not that she was planning on bragging about that too him. He seemed very male to her and one thing she knew about males was that they were usually a proud species. She didn't think this tall hulking creature was going to be any different.

Elaina watched him work from the safe distance of where she stood on the other side of the room. The lighting overhead gave her enough light to see his form hunched over the dead carcass and he was doing something with it. Finding her curiosity piqued, Elaina edged her way closer but remained a few good feet away in case she still needed to make run for it. She wasn't taking any chances. Her youth had taught her one valuable lesson, if you can't trust the people closest to you, then you damn well can't trust a stranger the size of a basketball player and built like a linebacker.

Ci'tde might be friendly to her right now but she gathered that that attitude could change very quickly. From her stance, Elaina peered up over his shoulder, having to go up onto her tip toes to get a good view and suddenly wished she hadn't looked. The urge to throw up was strong as she grimaced with disgust. She could have gone her whole life without seeing that image. He must have found his knife because he was using it to hack up the dead alien. She watched much to her stomachs disgust, and grossed out beyond belief as he removed the inner mouth from its head and then cut off one of its talons from the right clawed hand.

_Okay_- Elaina thought ready to throw up the candy bars she had just consumed earlier. She turned away from the sight but the sounds didn't help clear the disgusting image burned into her retinas. She was going to be scarred for life if she wasn't already from this hellish nightmare she was stuck in.

Ci'tde removed the trophies from the kiande amedha with little difficulty. Collecting the choice items, as the head was too mangled to collect, he turned to the small female. She was turned away from him making strange gagging noises. He watched her breathe in deeply and exhale slowly as she crossed her arms over her stomach as if in pain.

"Female," he growled trying to draw her attention, but his words didn't seem to affect her at all. "Elli," he tried using her name and he watched her eyes that had been squeezed shut, snap open. She turned slowly to look over at him and her eyes dropped down to the items he held.

He held them out to her as an offering. They were rightfully hers as she had made the kill. He watched as her hands came up defensively and she shook her head at him. Growling beneath his breath he held them out to her again.

"Oh no," Elaina said patting her stomach. "I'm full but thank you anyway." She turned to walk away but Ci'tde grabbed her backpack effectively stopping her from walking away from him.

Ci'tde shook his head when Elaina looked back at him to see what it was he wanted. "H'ko," he growled out. The one word that he had actually managed to learn over his lessons as a youth came to his aid this one time. "Trophy."

"Trophy," she repeated not understanding. Why would anyone consider them trophies? And then it dawned on her. _He's a hunter._ _Hunters take trophies off their kills. They mount them on the walls, skin them and stuff like that._ As he had so eloquently stated to her earlier, soft meat killed hard meat. These were her trophies then.

"Um, oh wow-" Elaina said not exactly sure what to say to him. How did one turn down a scary looking predator that could kill her with one blow of his hand? "Well I don't really have any room in my bag for them- and well- I really don't know how I would explain them to my mom and all- she would totally freak out if I brought them home-"

Ci'tde grunted at her, stopping her rambling tirade of trying to turn him down gently. She stared at him, wondering if maybe she might have pissed him off with her refusal to accept the items. She just what she needed, to upset the giant which him being close enough to kill her with one sweep of his arm.

Ci'tde didn't say anything as trying to explain to her his ways in her language was beyond his abilities. Instead he took some twine from his belt and used it to tie the trophies at his hip, deciding he would just carry them for her.

_Okay- so obviously leaving them behind is out of the question._ "Oh gee-" Elaina muttered as her bottom lip began to quiver a bit as she tried to keep the disgust off her face. "Wow thanks- though really Celtic, you don't have to do that."

Ci'tde nodded his head to her, feeling pride swell within his chest at her gratitude. He retrieved his mask from where he had hooked it to his belt and placed it back on over his face. He secured the hoses to the back and took in a deep breath of air. He could breathe fine with the oxygen levels on this planet but that didn't mean he enjoyed it. It left him feeling sluggish and not as alert as he needed to be in the situation they were in. He took this moment to revive himself as he considered a plan of action.

He needed to find Skl're either before or after he made his first kiande amedha kill. He knew for a fact though that before he left this place, he needed to make a kill in order to be welcomed back onto the clan ship with honor. To honor his clan, he needed to pass his Chiva and in order to do that he needed to stop acting like a pup. He had been foolish to let his anger cloud his judgment. Letting his emotions consume him had nearly gotten him killed. With that thought in mind, he started towards the opening in the ceiling. His large feet shattered skulls beneath his weight as he climbed the pile of bones but he paid no mind to the damage he caused.

Elaina tried not to flinch at the sound of bones cracking with each step he took. She was getting sympathy pains even though the human's they belonged to were long since dead. It wasn't like she knew any of them or that they even felt pain anymore. _But still-_ she argued mentally with herself_. Have some respect for the dead._

Ci'tde stood directly under the opening and typed something into his wrist device and a holographic image of the pyramid appeared. Curious, Elaina hurried after him, struggling a bit at climbing to the top of the pile of bones. Her foot slipped when one of the bones rolled out from under her foot and she nearly slid all the way back down the pile. Grumbling beneath her breath, she got back to her feet and carefully made her way up the pile. She peered around Ci'tde to see the image and saw the room that they were currently in. It was a room with no exits.

Ci'tde pointed up to the hole above them and Elaina sighed out loud. That was their only way out it seemed and Elaina was not a very good jumper, let alone her upper body strength was lacking severely.

"How many hard meats do you think are out there," she asked him suddenly. She was worried about the answer.

She couldn't help think how hard it had been for him to fight off just the one. She really hoped that they could avoid any more run-ins with the scary looking aliens. Ci'tde looked down at her, his hand coming down to pat the top of her head in a reassuring matter. So far he hadn't seemed to mind her company and she desperately hope he would allow her to follow him until they caught up to the expedition team. Her companion shrugged his shoulders in a very human like manner and she wondered who he had learned that from. She then recalled the question she had been asking him. Apparently he didn't know how many black aliens were out there.

With another sigh, Elaina stared up at the opening above, wondering just how she was going to get up there. Briefly she looked around but couldn't see anything that she could use as a step ladder to give her some boost in height. Feeling discouraged, she looked back up at the hole, feeling an ache starting to farm inside her chest. She let out a startled yelp when suddenly Ci'tde grabbed her around the waist and gave her a boost up through the hole above them. She grabbed the at the sides of the opening in shock, her body tense as the heat of his hands seemed to burn right through the layers of her clothes.

She'd never had anyone pick her up like that before at least not with such little effort and it had her cheeks flushing red. Grunting, she steadied her grip on the ledge and called down, "Got it." To her relief his grip loosened and finally all together his hands removed themselves from her waist. She strained under the weight of her own body but managed to lift herself up and out of the hole. She crawled forward from the opening before finding some strength to push herself up into a standing position on shaky legs. Ci'tde was quick to follow, easily jumping and catching the ledge before hauling himself up.

He made it look so damn easy.

Elaina looked around the room they stood in now. With their no longer a dangerous alien to distract her, she was able to really get a good look around the place. The once perfect stone structures had been damaged in the fight between Ci'tde and alien. Earlier she had thought her father and Max had been down here but by the time she had gotten there, they were gone. There were some signs of them being there recently though. There was a gun that lay discarded on the ground, the flashlight attached to it lit up a body near the far wall.

"Oh," she whispered realizing it was another Yautja. Elaina slowly approached it thinking it would leap at her if she moved to quickly but it was quite apparent it was dead. The neon green blood had already dried around the hole in its head was evidence enough for her. "Hey wait a minute-."

Elaina pulled out the spear from her side pocket and studied the weapon thoughtfully. Her mind jumped back to the image of the humanoid that had grabbed her hand while it tried to retrieve the spear. "This was his," she said looking over at Ci'tde. Well that explained things a bit for her. He hadn't been the one to attack her and Terminator out on the surface. _Maybe he's not like this one? Maybe that's why I'm still alive?_

Ci'tde joined her, having retrieved his own spear from across the room. He pressed the button that caused the weapon to shrink and he placed it on his belt. He looked down at his fallen comrade his mask hiding away any emotions he might be expressing.

"Man I feel bad- I mean if he hadn't thrown the spear, I probably would have died but if he had his spear, he might be alive right now," she said, looking down at the spear she held in her hand. With a sad sigh, she knelt down to lay the spear down next to him. With some effort she tried raising his arm so that it might appear like he was holding the spear but his arm was already stiffening and was too heavy for her to lift.

A low rumble from behind her had Elaina stiffening in fear. _What was that?_ She looked over her shoulder and saw Ci'tde staring at her with his head cocked to the side. Either he hadn't heard the noise which seemed not even possible or he was the one who had made it.

"What," she asked, grateful that her voice came out steady for once. She just hoped he couldn't hear her heart pounding in her chest.

Ci'tde shook his head at the strange female and knelt down next to his hunt brother. He made an angered trilling noise beneath his breath at her foolishness. His brother had no need for the weapon now as he had lost the fight against Cetanu. The female would need it more because of how weak and fragile she was, could she not see this? He took the combi-stick from where she had discarded to it and thrust the weapon back towards her.

"Oomph," she grunted as the force of him shoving the spear at her chest, knocked her off her crouched legs and onto her rear end. She groaned from her sprawled position on the ground. She lifted her head to stare at the brute next to her. "Fine- you don't have to be such an ass about it," she snapped at him, letting her annoyance get the best of her. "Jesus all you had to do was say _'no keep the spear'_- for crying out loud."

Elaina climbed to her feet, her hand cupping her butt gently at where she knew a bruise would be forming.

"I am going to be one big bruise tomorrow," she commented once on her feet. Her tailbone was hurting her and the throbbing pain was in sync with the aches and pains throughout the rest of her body. She rubbed at the spot on her chest where Ci'tde had nearly thrown the spear into her arms forcing her to take it. "What is your problem anyway," she asked him looking back at him from where he was still knelt next to the dead Yautja. He was just staring at the body not even acknowledging her question.

"Mei'hswei," he growled out through the mask. He touched the fallen Yautja's shoulder and shook it.

"Oh," Elaina whispered. She took a step back as Ci'tde climbed to his feet and started towards the exit. _ So they were friends or brothers or something,_ she thought to herself. _ Well that kind of explains a lot._

"Hey wait," she called when she saw him leaving. She quickly hurried to catch up to him. She nearly ran into him though when he paused to look back at her but thankfully she stopped just short of plowing into his back.

"Sorry," she whispered and bit her bottom lip to keep her from saying more.

_I'm sorry about your friend. I'm sorry you're stuck with me. I'm sorry for not paying attention. _ _I'm sorry I'm not stronger._ The simple word sorry meant a lot when she spoke it and she hoped he could see it in her expression when she stared up at him.

Ci'tde cuffed beneath his breath and trilled as he turned away from her. He didn't sound angry with her, if anything he seemed confused and maybe a little amused by her. She sighed, her hand reaching up to wipe away the wispy hair that had fallen across her face and had begun to stick to the sweat on her forehead. He followed the map on his wrist guard, continuing his search for only God knows what.

Elaina had to pretty much jog to keep pace with the taller being. His one step was to about every three steps she took. It was relatively quiet in the corridor around them, except for the slight scraping of her boots against the stone floor. Her quiet companion made no noise, which amazed her because of his size. She couldn't fathom how he managed it and with little effort it seemed. The passage they had been following turned and opened up into a long wide corridor. Nothing like the chambers she had seen before but it did have the usual hieroglyphs and same stone coloring. She really needed to speak to the people who decorated this place. Her dad's apartment had more life to it than this place and that was saying a lot.

Ci'tde didn't dawdle as he continued his trek at the fast gait he was moving. Thankfully he had slowed down some when he noticed her lagging behind but he was still covering ground faster than she was. He glanced back at her briefly and saw her not paying attention but instead studying the walls as they moved. He grunted and the sound drew her attention to him. With the heat vision in his mask he could see heat flare up in her face that he found rather interesting. Was she angry with him? He knew anger could change one's body temperature but he have never met a creature with such fluctuating body heat before.

Elaina was halfway down the corridor when the walls around them began to shake and tremble. The ground beneath her feet shook forcefully startling her into stopping. Her hands came out to steady herself and for a split moment she feared that they were experiencing an earthquake. She had a moment of panic as there were no doorways for her to get under to protect herself if that was the case. Elaina blinked back the dust from her eyes as the quake had kicked up the debris from the ground creating a haze in the air around her. She coughed and sputtered behind her hand as she stared at the walls on either side of her.

She was confused to see the walls shifting. The grating noise of the stone walls closing shocked her out of her thought. She looked ahead to find Ci'tde running for the exit as the walls began to close in around them.

"Shit," she cursed and started running after him. Panic settled deep within her gut and with strength and speed she never felt before surged through her legs and she raced towards the exit.

She was not a runner, in every sense of the word. She hated anything that had to do with extraneous activity and she avoided it at all cost and she greatly regretted that now as her side began to pinch and she could feel the burn in her calves and thighs.

Elaina's pants leg caught on something and she collapsed in the middle of the passageway with a started cry. She moaned when her chin smacked into the ground jarring her teeth. Turning her head, she looked back at her leg but couldn't see what had ahold of her. Tugging at her foot proved futile and Elaina reached back with her hand to see if she could unhook her leg. Squinting into the darkness she could make out something black and sleek looking had a firm grip on the edge of pants. Rolling over onto her back, Elaina sat up and tried using both hands to free herself as the walls weren't showing any indication that they were stopping their decent on her. Her hands closed around the item holding her and her breath hitched in her throat. Her head jerked up as something moved in her peripheral vision.

There was a sharp hiss, before a shiny black head jutted out towards her face, startling her. Elaina jerked back as its inner mouth shot out and she narrowly avoided losing her nose to its deadly bite. The alien's talons suddenly released her pants leg only for the alien to grab her leg and start to drag her back down the passageway she had come from.

"No!" Elaina shrieked as she fell back, her backpack keeping her head from slamming into the ground. She fought with everything she had to free herself of the alien's hold on her leg. "Let go of me!" She fought and struggled, forgetting for a moment that the walls were still coming in closer and closer around her. "Get off me you freak!" she shouted and started kicking with her free leg at the alien's head while searching desperately for something to grab onto with her hands.

Suddenly without warning, something large wrapped around her outreaching hand and pulled. Elaina shrieked as her leg was suddenly wrenched free from the alien's grasp. She was pulled up to her feet only to be lifted and thrown over Ci'tde's shoulder in one fluid motion. He started running then, heading to the end of the passageway a lot faster than she ever would have been able to run. How was it even possible for something of his size to move this fast?

Elaina looked at the walls as they were narrowing in on them, to the point that the tips of Ci'tde's shoulder pads grazed along the walls as he moved.

The alien behind them wasn't giving up though, despite the danger of being squashed like a bug. It chased after them, its tail poised to strike at them as it drew closer. Elaina searched frantically for some kind of weapon she could use as her spear was out of reach. Seeing an assortment of weapons strapped to his hips, she spotted a strange looking disk attached to his belt next to her trophies. Puling it free, her eyes widened as long deadly spikes shot out around the edge of it, turning it into a deadly looking throwing disc.

_Deadly assassins have nothing on this guy. _

"What the hell Celtic," she muttered not sure what she was supposed to do with this thing. She was bouncing around on his shoulder, each movement jostling her and causing his shoulder blade to dig into her ribcage painfully. Even with better conditions, she wasn't very good at tossing a Frisbee she didn't stand a chance trying to now.

The black alien screeched, climbing up onto one of the walls that were closing in on them. It crouched before launching itself at them.

At that same moment Ci'tde reached back behind him and snatched the weapon from her hands. He leaped forward out of the opening, his shoulders scraping against the two walls as they escaped the death trap and spun his body around while throwing the disc. The weapon hit the alien in the chest, pushing it back as the walls closed in on it. The alien was crushed, yellow acidic blood oozing from the crease and eating away at the stone as the walls closed firmly on it.

Elaina was curled up into herself with her arms covering her head as if that alone would protect her. The slight rise and fall of the ground beneath her drew her attention to what she was laying on top of. Opening her eyes Elaina found her face pressed against Ci'tde's chest, her body draped across him awkwardly. Somehow he had managed to take the brunt of the fall and had shielded her with his body all at the same time.

"Wow," she whispered staring at his chest. Slowly she lifted her head and blinked at the expressionless mask staring back at her.

"I'm going to have to start calling you Hee-man- boy are you strapped to the nines or what. And here I thought Terminator was a fruitcake for all his knives and guns," she rambled on with a small hysterical laugh. She lowered her head to his chest taking a moment to catch her breath as her adrenaline began to deplete from her trembling body. Her hands where fisted around the netting stretched across his stomach and she buried her face against the back of her hands as she took in a shuddering breath. "You are so much more deadlier than Terminator could have ever hoped to be."

Tears filled her eyes for a moment and Elaina squeezed her eyes shut to fight them back. Now was not the time to cry. She doubted he would appreciate a hysterical human girl crying all over him and rusting his equipment. _Speaking of equipment_, she thought her attention drawn to the weapon that was pressing into her stomach at the moment. Looking down, she stared at Ci'tde's belt and with great horror realized what exactly she had been feeling pressing up against her chest.

"Oh my god," she shouted leaping up off of him and dancing away in a hurry. She shuddered, her hands wiping at her jacket as if to rid her mind of the feeling of his member touching her. _God it doesn't matter that there was a loin cloth and a jacket between us_, she could still feel just how _large- _Elaina shook her head refusing to let her thoughts go down that route and her hands rubbed at her eyes vigorously.

_God what the hell is wrong with me? Okay just stop thinking about it all together,_ she argued with herself. She really did not need that image stuck in her head.

She looked over at Ci'tde to see him getting up to his feet. He cocked his head to the side as if curious or maybe confused, she couldn't really tell with his mask on. Forcing her eyes to stay up, instead of letting them linger down below the belt to what seemed to be holding her attention at the moment, she tried to think of something to distract herself.

"Shouldn't we be going," she pleaded lamely. She dusted herself off, looking away from him quickly. Her eyes landed on the squashed alien. Only its arm was visible while the rest of it was still within the wall.

"Man their blood is lethal," she commented after seeing the damage done to the stone surface.

Turning back to her companion, she saw him typing on his wrist guard and the holographic image of the pyramid formed. While he worked with his computer thing, Elaina decided to inspect the room to keep her mind off certain things. She wandered the perimeter looking for an exit. It seemed like they had ended up in a dead end of sorts.

"Well this sucks," Elaina grumbled. She turned around only to run into Ci'tde. Jumping back with a yelp, she glared at his towering form. "Hey, watch where you are walking just because I'm about half your size doesn't mean you can walk all over me."

Ci'tde made that rattling laugh of his as he stared down at her.

"Oh it's so nice that you find me so amusing," she said sarcastically.

Ci'tde pointed to the spear tucked away in the side pocket of her backpack without comment. Curious, Elaina pulled the weapon out and handed it over to him wondering what he might want with it. Ci'tde pressed the button that released the ends and the spear grew to its full length. He handed the spear back to her.

Elaina took the spear, confused even more now as to why he wanted it in the first place. Ci'tde pointed to the wall to their left and with his hands indicated that something was going to be lifted. Elaina watched him repeat the move once more, before she made a guess. "The wall is going to open," she asked him.

Ci'tde nodded his head once at her. He then pointed to the black alien that was dead and pointed at the wall that was going to open.

"And there are more of them beyond that wall," she whispered feeling suddenly nauseated with fear. Instinctively her hands tightened on the spear and it shrunk on her making her jump.

Ci'tde trilled at her through his mask and he showed her how to extend the spear again. He then showed her how to hold the spear properly so that she wouldn't accidently shrink it, if she needed it during a fight. That was good to know. Elaina adjusted her grip on the spear, her hands wringing around it as she tried to relax her hold. Her anxiety only seemed to make her hold onto it even tighter though. Looking over at her companion, she watched as he pulled out his own spear and extended the weapon to its full length. He stood ready, his eyes watching the wall as if anticipating it to open any moment.

"Why did you come back for me," Elaina asked him suddenly. She didn't know how long they had before the wall opened but the suspense of waiting was killing her.

The question had popped into her mind when he showed her how to use the spear properly. It wasn't like she would be of any help to him if they were to run into anymore aliens. She was pretty much useless to him and she was only slowing him down. She had no skill at fighting or surviving for that matter. She definitely didn't have any skill against giant alien bugs that bled acid. Staring at his back she wondered why he even let her follow him in the first place. He could have killed her down in that hole or even left her there to die. It wasn't like anyone was there to judge his actions.

That thought had her wondering why she had saved him in the first place. Not that it had been her initial intentions as she had the fleeting thought of killing him at the same time as she attacked the alien. His friend or brother had killed Terminator and tried to even kill her. She had no guarantee that he would have spared her life if she helped him.

None of this made any sense to her. The situation they had found themselves in was absolutely bizarre.

Ci'tde glanced back at her with his head tilted down to look at her from over his shoulder. "Female, yeyin sain'ja," was his answer to her question. Which wasn't really an answer, even if she could make out the words with all the clicks and growls that had come out. Had he spoken English, she probably would have had just as much trouble understanding him. The mask muffling his words didn't help her hearing either. She wanted to ask him the question again or maybe ask him to use his handy dandy translator, but before she could voice her words the wall in front of them opened up.

Elaina sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes staring at the dark opening with trepidation. They stood there silently, Elaina expecting a black alien to come barreling through to rip them to shreds. Nothing came in. There was no noise beyond the soft rumble coming from Ci'tde's chest and her shaky breaths. Elaina allowed herself to blink. There was no hissing, no scraping sounds of their talons against stone walls. They were still safe for now.

Ci'tde's rumble stopped and he started for the opening with deadly purpose in his step. He held his own spear ready in his hands, much more prepared for battle than Elaina could ever hope for. For a moment, Elaina found herself memorized by the humanoid. He was a warrior. Like something straight of the movie 300 only much more dangerous. Every move, every breath, every twitch was calculated. How much pressure to put in each step and how much air to draw in with each breath? She wondered for a moment, what kind of life he lived to be turn into a soldier hardened for battle. She couldn't picture it. This was no movie and she knew there was no sugar coating what life he must have lived. And there was no sugar coating the situation they were in either. Everything they did down here could cost them their life or help them escape. _And for some reason he's decided to bring you along, _she mused to herself. _Thank you._ She wanted to say the words but knew he wouldn't understand her. He hadn't understood her when she apologized.

"Female," he rumbled to her, looking back at her from over his shoulder. He stood in the opening waiting for her.

Elaina swallowed thickly, feeling her mouth suddenly dry. She stared at his mask but saw his face underneath. It had horrified her at first. Terrified her and disgusted her. Now it didn't bother her how alien he looked. To him she was probably not all that great to look at either. That was understandable as they were not the same. They never would be. But he saved her life and she had saved his. He was taking her with him and for that she was grateful. Staring at his mask she tried to express her emotions in that one look because she couldn't find the words to tell him that he could understand. He nodded mutely at her as if he knew and Elaina felt tear prick the corner of her eyes. She nodded her head.

"I'm ready," she whispered hoarsely.

Elaina hurried forward, awkwardly holding the spear in her hands as she followed him into the darkened passage. She didn't really get an answer to her question but she didn't really need it.

They walked, slowly easing along the passage with their ears straining to hear a familiar hiss or screech. Elaina did her best to keep up but the spear made it even harder for her to move very quickly. She was halfway down the passage that led into another opened room at the end when a strange sound drew her attention. The noise was muffled like it was coming from the other side of the wall next to her. The best way to describe it would be like a rumbling purr or maybe like someone was snoring? _That can't be right,_ she shook her head at the thought.

Elaina looked down the passage at Ci'tde who was now several feet away from her making his way through the maze that made up the pyramid. _It must be nice to have a map,_ she mused to herself. Seeing that he hadn't disappeared from her line of sight, Elaina took a moment to look at the wall to her left. The noise sounded like it was coming from just on the other side of the wall.

She was about to call Ci'tde to wait, when the ground beneath her feet suddenly disappeared.

Panicking, she just barely managed to grab the edge of the trap door that had opened beneath her. "Celtic!" she screamed, her fingers losing their grip as the gloves she wore made it difficult for her to get a decent hold with all the dirt and debris. One hand slipped followed quickly by the second and she disappeared into the darkness below.

Ci'tde paused at the sound of the female's shriek. He turned to look back only to find Elaina gone. Worried, he jogged back to where he had last seen her. As he jogged back down the passageway, he came upon a trap door in the floor closing before he could stop it. There was evidence of a struggle which he leaned down to inspect the disturbed debris. He picked up the strange skin that matched the shape and size of the female's hand. It had gotten trapped between the lining of the trap door and he had to tug it free to inspect it closely. Dropping the skin he stood back to his full height. He stepped down onto the trap door putting all of his weight down on it. It wouldn't reopen.

Opening his computer he pulled up the map of the pyramid to see where the trap door went to. Seeing the room below on the map he looked back down the passageway behind him. The only way down to the room below would be by going back the way they had come from and getting to the stairs.

"C'jit," he growled out.

* * *

**AN: I just want to say thank you all for the lovely reviews. It just makes my day to hear you guys express your enjoyment over reading my story. I love to write and express my imagination in the written world. This story has been on my mind to be written for a long while and I am thrilled with the hit it has turned out to be. I apologies for my grammar and spelling errors. No matter how many times i have read and reread and rewritten these chapters I still manage to miss mistakes. I am looking to hire a beta-reader if anyone is interested. I will pay in humor and witty/sarcastic comments, all pointed at myself of course. I have this whole story written and i have started the sequel for it already, but there is a lot more I am adding to each chapter as i go along with each update.**

**Some Yautja words**

**yeyin- Brave**

**sain'ja- Warrior**

**C'jit- Shit**

**H'ko- No**

**I will do my best to be quicker with my next update. Thank you all again for reviewing/ adding to your alert/favorites. Let me know how you thought about this chapter. Can anyone guess just what had caught Elaina's attention there in the end of this chapter?**

**Inky out**


	9. Chapter Eight

Chapter eight:

_**Bouvetoya Island  
A Corridor in the Pyramid  
October 11th 2004**_

Ci'tde hesitated for a split second, his mind weighing heavily over his options. There was only one honorable choice for him to make though and yet his young blooded self wanted to selfishly choose the less honorable one. The small ooman female had saved his life and he felt honor bound to return the favor much to his displeasure. Being indebted to an ooman did not sit real well with him.

Looking away from the passageway that would lead him to a more promising prey such as the kiande amedha kill and ultimately giving him a blooded status, his eyes dropped back down to the hidden trap door. Not only had she saved his life but had fed him some of her supply of food. Humans were a strange species. He had never heard of a human helping out one of his own kind before and he wasn't sure how he felt about the little pyode amedha.

Ci'tde's combi-stick felt heavy in his clenched fist. The weight of it was insubstantial and yet it had never felt so heavy in his hand before now. He had hardly gotten the chance to use the weapon since the beginning of his Chiva. Only human blood stained the sleek looking metal that had intricate writing carved into its surface. All of his weapons were hand crafted by him, as his Sire only allowed his pupils to bring weapons they had made themselves to their first Chiva. The combi-stick in his hand was his preferred weapon of choice and he had spent countless hours creating and designing it into the deadly weapon it is now.

His brother Chulonte hadn't put as much effort into his own combi-stick and yet the weapon seemed to fit well in the small female's clumsy hands. Seeing her wield the weapon and kill the kiande amedha had been impressive. If he had not seen it with his own eyes, he would have not believed it possible.

Ci'tde cuffed beneath his breath, the noise coming more out like a huff. _Silly ooman,_ he mused and his eyes narrowed on the floor at his feet.

"Stay safe," he growled out to the floor even though he knew she would not be able to hear him. He just had to hope that she could hold her own until he found her.

Bringing up his map, Ci'tde studied the pyramid's schematics. The only way down was by heading back the way they came and finding the stairs. There were several passages he would have to take before he would even find the stairs to get to the level below. His tusks flipped through the spectrums on his visor until it landed on night vision. Dull blue walls illuminated his vision and he found no kiande amedha lurking in the darkness.

Ci'tde memorized the path he would need to take to get to the stairs before closing the map's image. He started off down the passageway, heading in the direction they had come from. The pyramid had already done its shifting moments before and if he hurried he could get to the stairs before they turned on him again.

Ci'tde raced along the corridor, turning right and heading down another long one. It was empty ahead of him and he couldn't see any sign of the kiande amedha. _Where were they?_ Since starting his Chiva, he had only come across two of them. The one the ooman female had killed and the one the pyramid had crushed. A low purr burst from his chest at the thought of his little ooman killing a hard-meat. She had been terrified. The stench of her fear had permeated the stale air in the chamber as she watched him battle the hard meat. At the time he had had been incensed with rage and nothing could have stopped him from trying to kill the thing with his bare hands.

When he had first seen her enter the chamber, he had thought she was the same female that had one of the plasma casters. Why the foolish female would return after escaping, he didn't understand but at the time he wasn't able to dwell on the matter. He had planned to deal with her once he had taken care of the kiande amedha.

Unfortunately that opportunity never came and he had shamefully been bested by the beast and nearly lost his life to it. Cetanu had stared him in the face planning to end his life, when Paya had taken pity on him and came in the form of a small terrified ooman female.

Ci'tde shook the memory from his mind at the sound of silent scraping echoing from further along the corridor. It was faded and brief, so silent that he barely heard the sound. Narrowing his eyes, he glanced back over his shoulder to be sure nothing was trying to sneak up on him from behind. Seeing the empty passage behind him, he pushed himself to run faster. His hulking steps were silent and purposeful. He would slow his pace down to be stealthier but he was running out of time. It wouldn't be too much longer before the pyramid shifted and then he would be trapped on this level with no way of getting to the female.

Louder sounds up ahead finally had Ci'tde slowing his steps as he approached the turn. His talons dug into the stone surface as he came to a stop and peered around the corner. His earlier brush with death had taught him a valuable lesson. His quick rise to temper and brash attitude would only get him killed on his Chiva. He would not allow himself to die until he fulfilled his blood debt to the female. She had risked her life to save his. His honor demanded that he return the favor.

Ci'tde stared at the quivering mass at the end of the corridor with the stairs just a few feet ahead of it. The terrified ooman male was blind as it tried to find its way in the darkened corridor.

Switching his vision spectrum, he settled on heat vision to appraise his prey better. The human was pathetic and really not worth much as a trophy he realized, much to his dismay. Oomans were becoming more and more useless prey with each new generation. The group of oomans that they had tricked into entering the pyramid was disgusting to watch. He had yet to witness any bravery in the group of ooman males, even with their primitive weapons they quaked in fear of his kind. The only ooman that seemed somewhat worthy prey had been the male he had caught in his net back in the large chamber. Unfortunately he had not given the male the opportunity to prove his worth before he had snared it in his net. Ci'tde had watched the ooman protecting the others that were with it. Seeing the male protect its pack had reminded him of his Sire speaking of a hunt where an ooman male had been fiercely protective of its young. They proved to be the best kind of prey, his Sire had told him.

Activating his cloaking device, Ci'tde stepped out from behind the wall and stalked towards his prey. The ooman was trembling with the gun in his hands shaking so badly he wouldn't have been able to hit the broad side of a Darphojin.

At his side, his hand clenched into a fist and the reflex had his wrist blades on his left arm to shoot out. The sound had the male stopping in his tracks. Ci'tde watched it straighten up and slowly turn around to face him. The sight of his damaged twin blades had him taking his eyes off the ooman. They were dulled from the kiande amedha blood when he had severed its tail but they still seemed to be functioning properly. While melted and slightly dull, the metal made them effective enough that he could use it as a last resort, but they would not hold up very long in battle against another kiande amedha. Returning the blades back to their respective place on his wrist gauntlet he turned his attention back to the ooman. The pathetic creature was backing down the corridor, its wide frightful eyes searching the darkness desperately. The ooman didn't outright flee but the sight of the cowering male trying to get away angered Ci'tde.

His little female hadn't tried to run. Even through her fear the female hadn't run at the sight of danger. The knowledge of this had respect for the small ooman to swell within his chest. Stepping forward, Ci'tde started forward. He had his spear raised and ready to attack as he stalked his prey. Despite his weight, his steps were silent and the ooman continued to back away, unaware of the danger drawing closer to it.

Ci'tde did a thorough scan of the male, checking it quickly for his health to see if he really would be worth the effort to kill. During his inspection, there was something that had him stilling and causing the spines along his scalp to rise in anger. He zeroed his scan in on the man's backpack and what was inside. He could easily make out the shape of one of the plasma casters inside. A slow rumbling growl escaped him causing the ooman to jump in fright.

"Oh Jesus, oh Jesus," the ooman reeked of urine and feces as it waved its burner around threateningly. "M-Mother fucker," the ooman screamed and pulled the trigger on it weapon.

The bullets seemed to fly everywhere, smacking into the ceiling, the walls and floor at Ci'tde feet. The first bullet that actually hit him pierced the netting on his chest and his cloak rippled in effect, before deactivating all together. Enraged, Ci'tde spread his arms and legs and roared at the ooman. His sudden appearance had the male falling backwards and the burner flew from its grip as it tried to scramble away.

Ci'tde gave chase and with his spear, threw it at the retreating ooman. The deadly weapon whistled through the air piercing the male's chest and pinned it to the floor. Ci'tde roared his triumph and the excitement of the kill was short lived as the pyramid walls began to shift around him. Alarmed, he retracted his spear from the man's chest and wrenched the backpack from its back. Ci'tde raced to the end of the corridor and flew down the stairs before the wall could close on him.

He made it to the level below only to have a wall to rise up in front of him, blocking his path. Growling, he turned and found another wall there as well.

Ci'tde clenched his fists in aggravation. _I will hunt down the Yautja who came up with the idea of a shifting pyramid._ His very little patience was worn thin already and the prospect of finding himself trapped for the time being only added fuel to the building fire within him. He was tired of these games. The female becoming more trouble than she was actually worth bubbled in the back of his mind.

Every time he turned around she was getting herself into a dangerous situation. Now he found himself stuck in a room, small enough that he couldn't even sit down comfortably in. It was a small pocket just enough room for him to fit without it chafing against his hide.

Shrinking his combi-stick, he placed it on his belt and turned his attention to the bag he had taken from the ooman. There was blood all over the outside of it and there was a huge hole near the bottom. Wrenching the bag open by the hole, he tore the material wide open. There appeared to be skins and things stored in preservation containers inside the bag. He couldn't identify most of what was inside, but after digging around he found the plasma caster. Ci'tde dropped the bag as soon as he found his prize. The gun looked in good shape despite its age. It wasn't as advanced as he had hoped but it seemed to still work. Taking the plasma caster, he attached it to the holster on his shoulder and hooked it up to the back of his mask. Immediately the gun began to click and whirl as it rose up off his shoulder. The familiar red triangle appeared on the wall in front of him, letting him know that while the gun was an older model was still programmed with a tracking system compatible with his mask.

Ci'tde stood silently in the small pocket and the only noise was the soft puffs of air that escaped him as he breathed. He waited, his mind set on one goal. Time dragged only slowly and he could feel his muscles aching restlessly from behind held in such a cramped space for so long.

Finally the walls began to shift around him and he tensed in anticipation. As the wall in front of him lifted, he opened up his map to see which way he needed to go to reach the room the female had fallen into. The path ahead of him had altered some and he would now have to take different route than the one he had first planned on taking.

Ci'tde growled beneath his breath, his temper rising higher as he realized that it was going to take him longer to reach her now. He had already wasted so much time and he did not think his female had much time left. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Ci'tde started off at a run.

He had no idea if the little ooman was still in that room or if she was even alive still. The fall alone could have killed her. He hadn't even considered the idea that she might be dead and that he was going to all this trouble for nothing. Even though the thoughts now came to him unbidden, his steps did not falter. She was tough for an ooman, with a strong will to live despite everything that was pitted against her.

Wherever his little female had ventured off too, he was positive danger was lurking not too far behind her. She seemed to attract it much like the scent of prey would attract a Yautja hound. Ci'tde could not suppress the excited little thrill that tingled along his hide in anticipation of the battle ahead of him.

Picking up his pace, Ci'tde raced along the corridor, his heavy steps thudding along as he ran and causing dust and debris to rise up off the ground with each step. The thick appendages at the back of his head swung around behind him, slapping like whips against his shoulders but he paid it little mind. He turned the corner of another corridor and with his tusks altered the vision in his visor to night vision once more.

He couldn't find any sign of the hard-meats in the corridor ahead of him and he found that very peculiar. Where had they all gone to? Pushing himself to run faster, he consulted his map once more and took the next left. The room was just up ahead and if he was quick enough he could make it before the pyramid shifted on him again.

The passageway curved to the right and he followed it. The stretch of this corridor before him was short and as he drew near, he could feel the slight rumble of the pyramid as it began to shift again. Grunting, he pushed himself to move faster and barely slid into the narrow opening before the wall slammed shut, locking him inside. He didn't get much reprieve though as the familiar hissing sound of the kiande amedha in the room alerted him to the danger that lurked in the darkness.

Whipping his head around at the sound of them close by, the plasma caster rose up off his shoulder in response. The sight of seven kiande amedha had him withdrawing his combi-stick and sliding into a defensive stance.

This was the room the ooman female had fallen into.

* * *

The roar echoed throughout the pyramid startling the sleeping Yautja from a nightmare of choking and gasping for air. Skl're snapped awake, yellow eyes blinking open to take in the haze of the pyramid walls around him.

Groggily, he sat up from the position he had been slumped in moments before. He wondered how long he had been unconscious. A pressure in his chest had him pressing a hand over the metal plating there and dragging in a ragged breath. Where was his mask?

He spied it laying a foot away from him and he reached over for it. He replaced the mask over his face and rehooked the hoses to the back of it securely. He took in a thick heavy breath of the filtered air supplied from the mask. The pressure in his chest lessoned somewhat and he found the energy to climb to his feet.

Standing, he swayed for a brief moment before shaking off his grogginess. Feeling more awake, he took stock of his weapons, finding them all to be present and in working order.

He switched through the different visual fields of his mask and settled on the night vision. He searched the room he had woken up in, finding it vaguely familiar. There was a dead kiande amedha drone behind him with half its head cut off. One of the small lou-dte-kales had been sliced in half while another was left whole laying curled up on itself.

Grunting beneath his breath, he searched the walls and spotted an opening in the chamber he had been trapped in before. A shout had him reacting more alertly and he swiveled towards the opening. It sounded like the ooman male he had chased through here earlier. Grabbing his combi-stick, he raced out of the chamber following the sounds of the kiande amedha and oomans still left alive.

* * *

**AN: Good day to you all! Here is the next chapter and a little more into Celtic's thoughts. Hopefully this one flowed a little better than the last chapter. I plan to go back through and edit them, I just haven't had the time :(**

**Yautja words:**

**Darphojin: a raptor-like reptile that has the ability to create a pheromone that can make an alien think it is one of its own. Predators have also been known to ride them like horses.**

**Ooman: Slang for Human**

**I think that is all I used word wise...**

**BTW I do not own Predators, as much as Celtic and I would get along I doubt he would consent to me owning him. maybe the other way around which isn't such a bad idea either... But Elaina is mine. :)**

**Also I am still looking for a beta-reader. if you are interested hit me up. **

**Inky out**


	10. Chapter Nine

Chapter nine:

_**Bouvetoya Island  
Unknown Room Deep Within the Pyramid  
October 11th 2004**_

The cold stone structure beneath her was the first thing Elaina noticed when she woke up. It was icy to the touch and the biting chill it created numbed the side of her face that was pressed against the cold surface. The ground she laid on was rough and grainy beneath her, not a smooth and sometimes sticky surface she expected after a long night of drinking at her friend's house. This wouldn't have been the first time she woke up on her friend's kitchen floor. DJ always knew how to throw one hell of a party.

The next thing she became aware of was that the air she breathed in had a stale stench to it, like an old musty room that had been closed off for years. It wasn't a very pleasant smell but one that had her wrinkling her nose in disgust.

When Elaina tried to move, she moaned as the aches and pains in her body came back to her in a rush, reminding her that she had recently fallen down a dark hole. It felt like a Semi-truck had slammed into her and then had proceeded to back up over her before running her over one more time for good measure. There wasn't a spot on her that didn't hurt in some way.

_Could this day get any worse,_ she moaned.

Very little noise escaped her lips as she struggled to just breathe without moving too much. Elaina lay there, barely breathing as her ears strained to hear for what could be lurking in the darkness around her. It was scary quiet, minus the drip drip sound coming from somewhere behind her. Forcing her eyes to open so that she could see where she was, she was first greeted with darkness.

_Oh god I'm blind- _she was on the verge of panicking but after a few shuddering pain-filled breaths, she managed to refrain herself from completely freaking out. _Don't panic, don't panic, breathe, just breathe-_

Elaina blinked a few times and forced her body to sit up from where she had been curled up on the floor. Rubbing her eyes, she looked around again but still found it hard to see much of anything in the darkness. Squinting, she searched the shadows for something familiar. It took her eyes a few minutes to adjust to the lack of lighting in the room and she was able to make out some vague shapes just beyond where she laid. There didn't seem to be any lights or lamps anywhere that could help her see and a quick search of her person told her she had lost her flashlight. There was nothing on the walls or the ceiling above her to help her discern anything familiar with her surroundings.

It looked like she was in a basement, maybe? The floor and walls were made of some kind of stone and there was a pillar near her that reached all the way to the ceiling. She could vaguely make out some strange drawings on it, much like the walls throughout the entire pyramid had. It seemed to be telling some kind of story but one she was unable to interpret.

Elaina swallowed the building hysteria as she looked around her. _Where the hell am I_, she wondered. She looked up at the ceiling wondering where the opening was to the trap door she had fallen through. _Where's Celtic? Is he looking for me?_

Elaina used the pillar next to her to help her to her feet. The chill in the air had settled all the way into her bones making them creak as she tried to move. By the time she managed to get herself into a standing position she was out of breath and using the pillar for support.

The fingers of her left hand ached right down to the bone and she looked down at it, curiously. The cold surface of the pillar was cold to the touch and she now realized why. Her glove was missing. The bitter air seemed to cool several degrees with this new realization. With shaking hands she searched for her pockets and found the second pair of gloves Lex had instructed her to pack.

Elaina laughed a little bitterly then, recalling the smart–ass comment she given the older woman about being ordered around. Tears filled her eyes and Elaina wiped them away angrily before they could create track marks down her cheeks. She would not allow herself to cry over something as pathetic as being mean to someone who had probably just saved her from getting frostbite. Quickly, Elaina regloved her left hand and rubbed it up and down her leg to bring back some feeling into her frozen fingers.

Feeling a little bit better now, she looked up from her hands to inspect the room she had woken up in one more time. Her eyes searched her surroundings wondering just how long she might have been unconscious for. Unfortunately, there was no answer to her silent questions among these walls as there was no clock or window to show here what time of day it was. She had no idea how long she had been down in the pyramids either. It felt like days had passed while she ran for her life from the monsters in the dark, while it could have easily only been just a few hours.

Turning her inspection inwards, Elaina checked herself for injuries. Most of her pain seemed superficial thankfully. Her ribs felt a little bruised and her chin was a little tender when she tried to touch it. The back of her head ached and she wondered if she might have hit it when she fell. She couldn't really remember much after the ground had disappeared beneath her. There had been the feeling of falling and then nothing but darkness. Shaking her head at the terrifying thoughts, she continued her inspection. The worst injury she found during her search was a bruise around her left wrist. It was a deep bluish purple and it wrapped all the way around her wrist and hurt like a bitch when she tried to rotate it. _I don't think it's broken but it's probably sprained._ It might have been from when that Yautja had grabbed her back on the surface. He hadn't really been gentle when he tried to get his spear back.

Recalling the weapon, Elaina looked around the ground for it. She knew it had fallen with her and she distinctly remembered it hitting the ground before she had lost her grip and fell. Taking a step out into the dark room, her foot bumped into the fallen weapon making it roll forward. Kneeling down, Elaina blindly patted around until she found it. Grabbing the spear like Ci'tde had shown her, she stood and made her way back to the pillar. She did not want to get lost in this room as she had no idea where the exit was. Lex's words came to her then, one of her three simple rules. _Never go anywhere alone._

_Right_, like she had much of a choice in that matter since she had gotten down here in this stupid pyramid. Everything had gone to shit the moment the Yautjas showed up. Not that she could lump Ci'tde in with the others even though he was probably just as guilty as the one who had attacked her. Ci'tde hadn't tried to kill her though, despite how much of a pain she must be to him, just by tagging along on his hunt. She had to wonder how long his sympathy would extend towards her. Maybe she had used up all of his goodwill when it came to her? He had no reason to come back for her. No reason to look for her.

Elaina looked around in the darkness and she felt utterly vulnerable and alone down here in this room. The only thing that even knew she was in the pyramid was an alien being that was nearly 8ft tall. She doubted he would bother come looking for her. _And why should he, _she argued bitterly with herself.

"I'm just a soft-meat," she muttered and her hand tightened on the spear as her temper flared a little along with her fear of being left to die down here. It was pointless to feel sorry for herself and yet she could not shake the despair that clawed its way into her heart.

A slithering sound had Elaina jerking her head up from her thoughts and she tried to focus all of her senses to her surroundings. Weariness weighed heavily on her shoulders, causing nausea to rise up in her throat as she realized she might not be as alone down here as she had first feared. In the darkness, she couldn't see much farther than a few feet from herself and yet she knew there was something out there watching her.

Without moving, Elaina vainly searched the room wondering why her heart felt like it wanted to tear its way out of her chest. Fear had her body trembling as her mind drew up images of what lurked in the dark. She had never believed in the boogeyman or monsters when she was a kid. She was becoming a fast believer now though.

A hissing sound from across the room had Elaina whirling around to face the noise. Her eyes darted around, trying to find its exact location and what had made it. She hated snakes. They slithered around and were scaly and just plain gross. The hiss seemed to echo off the walls and it was almost like it was coming from all around her. Despite the deceiving echoes, her eyes were frozen to the spot in front of her. There was something crouched there.

In the darkness something moved but her eyes couldn't make out exactly what it was. The poor lighting kept her from really seeing it as its body stretched from where it had been crouched. With her heart leaping to her throat, Elaina took a terrified step back.

_Oh god._

It was one of those black things. The alien creature that even Ci'tde had struggled to fight off. Elaina's bottom lip began to quiver as the alien's head moved side to side as if trying to find her. She did not want to die this way. She'd rather not die at all but the idea of dying by this monster, terrified her more than any other scenario her mind could conjure for her. She swallowed back the bile that rose up in her throat when the alien turned its head towards her. She watched the lips peel back from its mouth and exposed its sharp teeth.

Desperation had her lifting the spear up in front of her for protection. It was all she had to defend herself with. She spread her legs out to give herself better leverage as she waited for the alien to make the first move. Running blinding seemed suicidal as she had no intention of turning her back to this thing. She didn't know the first thing about fighting but she sure as hell wasn't going to let it eat her without giving her best effort to save herself.

The alien screeched and lunged towards her, its movement way too fast for her eyes to follow it in the darkness. Elaina barely brought the spear up as the alien fell onto her. The two of them fell back to the ground, her backpack cushioning her body and kept her head from slamming against the stone. Elaina cried out, trying to push the alien off of her but her arms were already beginning to shake from the effort to keep it at arm's length. The spear was the only thing keeping the inner mouth from going into her skull but that didn't protect her from the alien's talons that dug into her arms and legs. The needle point claws dug into the fabric of her clothes, breaking the flimsy barrier and cutting into the flesh underneath.

Elaina screamed, pushing the head of the alien back from her face. Seeing it wasn't getting what it wanted, the alien leaped off of her, drawing back from her sprawled and shaking form as it searched for another opening to take advantage of. Elaina scrambled away sliding on her butt and using her feet and hands to give her momentum. It wasn't until she ducked behind the pillar for protection that she realized she'd lost her backpack. The only conclusion she could come to was that the straps must have torn during the struggle. With help from the pillar, Elaina managed to get to her feet but her legs were trembling so badly, she had to lean against the pillar to hold her up in a standing position.

_Oh god please, please don't let me die down here_, she prayed silently, even though she had never been much of a believer in God. And while the recent events she had been through didn't really inspire much faith in her, she was just too terrified to care that she was pleading for help in something she didn't believe in. The room was terribly silent and the lack of sound scared her more than any sound the alien made. _Where is it?_

Suddenly its tail slammed into the side of the pillar near her head, breaking off a chunk as it broke through. Elaina jerked back with a startled scream. She turned away from the pillar and began to back up, holding the spear in front of her again in hopes that it would give her some form of protection. She'd never seen anyone fight with a spear and really had no idea on how to use it to fight her attacker. All she could manage to do was keep it close to her chest and hope it would be enough of a barrier to keep her alive long enough for her to find a way out of this hell hole.

Elaina took another step back, her feet sliding against the stone floor as she tried to work her way across the room. She just needed to find an exit then maybe she could out run the thing. She had just taken a second step back when a noise behind her had her freezing in terror. An alien hissed behind her and yet Elaina hadn't taken her eyes off the one that had just attacked her.

_Oh god._

There were two of them down here with her. Slowly, Elaina turned her head to look over her shoulder and her eyes widened at how close the alien was. She could make out the black banana shaped head and the drool that escaped its mouth as it peeled back its lips and hissed through sharp teeth at her. It was way too close.

Elaina threw herself to the side as another tail went slicing through the air in her direction. Had she not moved when she did, it would have gone straight through her chest but instead it tore through the sleeve of her jacket instead. She narrowly avoided its second swipe as she rolled across the floor and came to a stop when she slammed into a wall. Groggily, Elaina lifted her head. Weariness and exhaustion had created weights on her eyelids and it grew increasingly hard to keep them open the longer she fought it.

She felt comfortably numb to her pain and that scared her some as her fear melted away despite the immediate danger she was still in. And yet as she lay there she could barely bring forth enough fear to keep herself awake. She was just not cut out for all of this fighting and already she could feel herself ready to give up. The room was spinning around her and it seemed like there were a lot more than just two aliens converging in on her.

_Don't give up yet,_ she argued with herself. It was an epic battle to fight off the need to sleep. Why it mattered whether she gave up now or later, was beyond her. On her own, she was dead either way. Elaina planted one hand on the ground in front of her and shoved her body up into a seated position. She used the wall for support to keep herself upright. Her spear lay just within arm's reach and she stretched out her right hand and grasped it in a firm grip. She brought the weapon to her panting chest and only then did she realize she was struggling to breathe. Pain flared inside her chest when she drew in a deep breath and she wondered if she might have broken a rib.

The numbness had faded and it left her body screaming in pain as it all came rushing back to her. Her breath hitched inside her chest and she gasped for air as scalding hot tears thawed out her cheeks as they fell unchecked from her eyes. Elaina lifted her tear stained face to the approaching aliens thinking, _this is it_. There was too many of them. She could only see the one in front of her but she could hear the others. It sounded like hundreds of them had come to feast on her and she wondered where they all had come from. There hadn't been any when she had first gotten into the pyramid, where had they all been hiding? Maybe she had landed in their nest?

Tightening her hands around the spear she held it up protectively despite how much of a disadvantage she was. "Daddy, I'm so sorry,_" _she said to herself as she stared at death in the face. She never felt so sorry in her life then in that moment. All the horrible things she had said to him and the hell she had put him through because he'd never been there for her. She had been such a horrible daughter. A spoiled brat and yet her father had done everything in his power to try to make her happy.

"I'm so sorry daddy," she said a little louder and the alien hunched down, preparing itself to pounce on her. She wished she would have been able to tell him herself that she was sorry. But this was it and she was all out of second chances.

The alien screeched and it lunged towards her with its talons stretched out in front of it to rake them across her flesh. Elaina flinched away from it, pressing herself further into the wall, despite the fact that it would do little to protect her.

Suddenly a bright blue light lit up the room, nearly blinding her with its intensity after being stuck in darkness for so long. Elaina lifted her arms to shield her eyes as the light shot out and slammed into the attacking alien's body. The blast sent the alien flying and its smoking body landed a few feet to the side of her. The charred remains hissed and bubbled as the acidic blood began to eat away at the stone floor. Elaina was just blinking the bright spots in front of her eyes away, as another bright blue light lit up the room and another alien was killed in one blast.

Elaina peered out from behind her raised arms and squinted past the bright light that was blinding her to see Ci'tde running into the room. She watched as the device on his shoulder spun around as it tracked the retreating aliens as they backed away from her. It shot another blast but missed the alien it had been following and left a scorched mark on the stone floor of where it had been.

Taking her eyes off the weapon, Elaina focused her stare on the Yautja himself as he leapt forward and withdrew his spear. He swung the weapon in an arch, the one end slamming into an alien that had tried to charge him. He spun around, his body moving in a fluid motion that reminded her of a graceful dance as he swept the spear out and knocked a second alien off its feet. Elaina stared with her eyes wide open as she watched him take on the mob of aliens around them with a speed and agility that seemed impossible or someone of his size.

Ci'tde slammed one pointed end of the spear into the stunned alien that had been twitching on the ground killing it in on swift blow. Leaving the spear embedded in the ground he extended the blades from one of his gauntlets and turned to face the remaining aliens. He roared out a challenge to the remaining group, daring them to attack him.

There was an echoing screech from deep within the pyramid that had the last of the aliens pausing in their attempts to retaliate against him. Their heads swiveled around and soon they were scurrying along the walls and retreating. Ci'tde held his stance, his body ready in case they decided to return. He stood there for a long moment with his head swiveling back and forth as he searched the darkness for any more signs of them.

The room fell quiet then, minus the clicks and whirls coming from the gun he had attached to the plating over his right shoulder. She could hear his steady breathing, even from across the room and he appeared to not even be winded after the battle that had just occurred.

"C-Celtic," Elaina called out to him and he turned to look at her from over his shoulder. She held her breath at the sight of him. His massive body told her he was strong and his rock hard muscles had not even an ounce of fat on them. She knew he was deadly and yet nothing could have prepared her for what she had just witnessed. She found herself amazed by his skills and also a little afraid of them as well.

Ci'tde made a soft huffing noise beneath his breath and turned to retrieve his spear. He tugged it free from the dead alien and did a quick scan of the room one last time before deeming it safe enough to relax his guard a little.

He turned towards her then, finding her slumped against the wall and her spear still clutched tightly in her shaking hands. Slowly he approached her and Elaina lifted her tired head to look at him when he stood in front of her. There were tears in her eyes and this time she had no strength to keep them at bay.

"You came back for me," she whispered hoarsely unable to believe it.

* * *

**AN: I love this chapter. A lot of you might recognize some of it from the Prologue. Now we have come full circle, and you can see the full chapter in all its epic glory. Wasn't Celtic just gorgeous? /Drools. I love him to death and would love to cuddle with him after a battle like that though I doubt he would let me. Maybe Elaina, he seems to like her well enough.**

**Only a few more chapters left by the way. At least for part one that is. There will be a part two and part three to this story as well. Now I know I haven't really put much in what's going on with Lex and Scar into this story, mainly because we all know what happens to them, at least if you have seen the movie o.o that is. But I don't want to rewrite the movie too much.. I love how it played out and I think Scar and Lex make a good couple, even if I think I'd be better for him .**

**So has your opinion of Elaina changed over the last ten chapters? I think she's growing into a better person with all that she's been through. Finally starting to realize her mistakes and repent a little for them. Send me your opinion though I would love to hear it. I hope I am getting better with my Yautja point of view o.o also. **

**I want to thank all of my lovely reviewers. I love your input and your words of wisdom. I can always use constructive criticism. Thank you all again, without you, there would be no story or inspiration to write ^^. For that a huge thank you to you guys loves.**

**Inky Out**


	11. Chapter Ten

Chapter ten:

_**Bouvetoya Island  
Unknown Room Deep Within the Pyramid  
October 11th 2004**_

"You came back for me," she whispered hoarsely, unable to believe it.

She never thought he would come for her. Wasn't it obvious that she was a burden and seemed to attract these aliens like a moth to the flame? So why would he even come looking for her?

Obviously, he was a much better person than she made him out to be. He was a lot better person her. She didn't think if the situation had been reversed if she would have done the same. She wasn't sure what she would have done if she had been in his position.

Ci'tde cocked his head to the side as he knelt down in front of her. At first he didn't seem to understand her words and she knew this, because of the way he cocked his head to the side and stared at her. Then a low sounded trill escaped him and he patted her reassuringly on the head.

"Yeyin," he told her.

Ci'tde then took hold of her arms with his large hands, the talon nearly wrapping all the way around her biceps completely and helped her to her feet. She stood on shaky legs in front of him, her eyes blinking owlishly up at his taller form. He let go of her then, studying her through his mask. With a grunt, he raised his right arm and wrapped those large meaty fingers around her right shoulder. The grip was firm as if to hold her up but she knew how easily he could crush her shoulder blade with just a tightening of his hold on her.

Ci'tde did not break eye contact with the small female as he held her by the shoulder. He flexed his hold on her shoulder, watching for any tall-tale signs that she was afraid. He was pleased to see her unfaltering gaze didn't leave his mask. He didn't understand the expression on her face, as he had never seen it on an ooman before. He was used to seeing fear and terror in the eyes of his prey. He did not see that now in the way she stared at him. He purred to her and the sound seem to draw her from her thoughts as her eyes blinked slowly and she dropped her gaze down to his chest where his purr emanated from. He continued to purr for a long moment, letting her get used to the sound. When her eyes lifted to stare back at his mask, he said to her in his language, his words coming out clear, despite the growl and clicks that came with his words, "Kv'var mei-jadhi."

He shook her by the shoulder roughly much like he would with a fellow hunter. The small female stumbled by the force of his shake, but with his firm grip on her shoulder she didn't fall. He let her go once she was settled on her feet once more. Ci'tde nodded his head and motioned for her to follow him.

Elaina hesitated in following him, instead her eyes tracking his movements. As he melded into the darkness, she became aware of the chilled air on her flushed skin and the stiffening on her cheeks.

Elaina reached up with her right hand to wipe away the last of her tears by using the sleeve of her jacket to clean her face and rid herself of the embarrassing evidence of her weakness. Feeling much more in control of her emotions, Elaina lifted her head and searched the darkness. There was a faint shadow of Ci'tde form just within her line of vision that gave her comfort that he had not completely abandoned her in the room.

She was slow to follow him as he walked across the room as her vision was still hindered by the darkness. Somehow Ci'tde was able to easily see in the dark, while Elaina struggled to find her way to him. She had lost her flashlight a while ago and had to go with her general sense of direction to find her way around. In the end she had to trust her sense of hearing and followed the sounds of his footsteps to where he stood in the center of the room. He was bent over the alien he had killed with his spear. It was the only alien left that hadn't been liquefied by his new acquired gun.

Remembering the weapon that she had seen on his shoulder, she turned her eyes away from his inspection of the alien. The gun had been put away now that they were no longer in any danger by retreating into the holster like thing over his left shoulder. She was positive he hadn't had that before she fell into the hole.

"Where did you get that gun," she asked him, wincing at how hoarse her voice came out. Clearing her throat she tried again. "I mean- I can't imagine it was just lying around in a pyramid that is as old as time itself."

"Ooman," he answered simply. He reached for the knife on his belt and pulled it free.

"You mean human? You saw a human," she asked him excitedly that maybe there were other survivors. "Where are they- are they okay? W-were there others?" She hoped her father and Max were okay but she was starting to lose hope that they were still alive down here with all the alien's running around.

"H'ko Ooman dead," he said while retrieving his knife from his belt.

"Oh," she whispered in a small voice. She could feel the sting of tears at the back of her eyes and the thickness welling up in her throat at his words_. No,_ she argued with herself. She would not break down again. _Later-_ Later she could cry. She swallowed the lump in her throat her eyes blinking harshly and forcing the tears back.

Elaina forced herself to watch what he was doing, anything to take her mind off the ache in her chest, the pain in her throat and the sting in her eyes. Ci'tde adjusted his grip on the knife in one hand and took hold of the dead alien's limb in the other.

_Oh god._

Ci'tde took the knife and cut off one of the fingers from the alien, much like he had done to the one she had killed. Elaina winced, her stomach turning at the sound of the knife cutting through flesh and bone.

Ci'tde inspected his prize and she could hear the purr emanating from his chest as he inspected it. Elaina cocked her head to the side, her brows furrowing as he reached up with his free hand and unhooked the hoses at the back of mask. He removed the mask from his face and his mandibles spread out stretching much like stiff limbs. She didn't understand why he had removed the mask. He had only done it once before, so that he could eat the candy-

"Oh my god you're not going to eat that are you," Elaina asked him horrified.

She could feel the nausea rising up into her throat at the very idea. She didn't even think it was possible but hell, as far as she knew his stomach was made of steel or something none corrosive. She watched him set the mask aside and then he turned to look at her. Ci'tde shook his head, his mandibles stretching wide into a grin.

_Man it's really creepy when he smiles like that._

He almost appeared youthful when he wasn't being so serious but the sharp teeth inside his mouth killed the image and she was reminded that there was nothing innocent about this guy. Ci'tde tilted his head at her as if to say be patient. He reached over for his mask holding it steady in one hand while the other still held the alien's finger. Taking the finger, Ci'tde dipped the tip of the talon into the alien's acidic blood that had oozed out of the wound and onto the stone flooring. He brought the tip to his mask and drew something across the forehead of it.

Elaina leaned in closer, her nose wrinkling at the smell of burning metal as she tried to get a better view of what he was doing. The symbol he drew was a dash tipped in a downward angle with a line going down from the center but the two lines were not connected. The design kind of reminded her of kanji writing and she only knew that because she had been hoping to get one tattooed on her back eventually. She wasn't one for pain but she liked how pretty they looked and figured it would be well worth the pain in the long run.

_It's simple looking- but kind of cool, _she mused to herself.

"Hey that's cool," she said out loud.

At her words, Ci'tde puffed out his chest and held out the mask for her to see. Elaina reached out with her hand, touching the mark on his mask with her fingertips. The acid had etched into the metal but the burn was shallow enough that it hadn't damaged the inside. Before she knew it, she was holding the mask in her hands, studying the symbol more closely.

Blinking out of her scattered thoughts of how pretty the mark was to what it meant and she realized then that he had allowed her to his mask from him. Lifting her head, she looked over at Ci'tde in surprise.

He made no move to take back the mask but instead just stood there watching her with his head cocked to the side. Once more his face gave her no indication as to what he might be thinking. Turning her attention back to the mask, Elaina lifted it up and placed it over her face. She peered out into the room through the eye sockets.

"Wow," she breathed in awe that she was able to see the room around them. Everything was in shades of blues, reds, yellows and oranges.

Lifting her arm, she could see her arm outlined clearly through the mask. "It's reading my body heat," she said out loud and looked towards Ci'tde to confirm her suspicion. His image nearly blinded her as it was nothing but a massive glow on the screen, his body just a powerhouse of heat. She watched as he lifted something that appeared green on the visor towards his own head. Since she couldn't tell what it was through the mask, she lowered it from her face to see what he might be up to. Her eyes widened when she was him taking the alien's finger to his own forehead.

"Wait," she shouted grabbing his arm and pulling him short from sticking the finger against his skin.

Ci'tde looked down at her, his head cocking to the side as he studied her. A slow trill came from him something she was beginning to see was a question.

"What do you think you are doing," she asked him. "Are you insane? That could seriously hurt you."

"H'ko," he growled in return with a shake of his head.

With surprising gentleness, Ci'tde took hold of her arm and peeled her hand from around his. Her other hand came up in reflex holding onto the hand that held hers in a firm grip. It appeared he was not going to let her go right away. Elaina was forced to watch as he used the alien's finger to brand his forehead in the same manner he had done to his mask. She flinched in reaction to each rattling trill he made from each line he burned into his flesh.

Elaina was forced to wait until he was finished before he finally let her go. She pulled away from him, taking a step back to allow him some room. Elaina stared at the mark on his large forehead and thought it looked pretty cool. She'd heard of people her age doing similar things, such as banding themselves instead of getting tattoos. Though she kind of doubted that was the look he was going for.

Before she realized what she was doing, Elaina had pulled her glove off her right hand and had reached out towards the mark. Catching herself, before she could actually touch him her fingers curled inward into a loose fist. Biting her bottom lip, her eyes flickered to look him in the eyes, silently asking him for permission.

Ci'tde was knelt in front of her as he had not yet stood up after he had crouched down beside the alien. For once he was almost at eye level with her and she didn't find him nearly as intimidating. Ci'tde made an accepting trill or at least she took it as such, since he hadn't tried to push her away yet. So she took it as an okay for her to touch him. She didn't quite touch the burn as she wanted to avoid causing him anymore pain but instead she traced the outside edge of it. The marking was an exact match to the one on his mask, both simple in nature and yet pretty wicked looking. At her touch, Ci'tde began to purr and one of his tusks scraping gently at the inside of her wrist.

"Thwei'de-sain'ja," he growled the title out, his tusk scarping against her hand again, almost tickling her. At her confused stare, he reached down and had his wrist computer translated for her. "Blooded warrior."

"Blooded warrior," she echoed with a slight crease of her brow. "Is that some kind of big deal," she asked him. She took a step back finally allowing him some room to stand. She handed him back the mask before putting her glove back on her hand as the cold air was starting to get to her.

Ci'tde stood to his full height and once more he towered over her smaller frame. She lifted her head to look at him. His face had been pretty fierce looking as it was but now with the mark it seemed to only intensify the image even more.

Ci'tde nodded his head once. "Rite of passage," his computer informed her. He then pointed to her. "Thwei'de-sain'ja," he called her. It took her a moment to realize he was calling her a Blooded Warrior.

"Ha! Uh- yea, no," she said with a slightly hysterical laugh.

Ci'tde cocked his head not understanding what she found so funny. The fact that she agreed then denied what he said confused him even more. He growled out the name again and this time took hold of her shoulder and shook it roughly.

"No," Elaina argued, her temper flaring for a moment as she realized that he was being serious about this. "Celtic, I don't know where you're getting your information from but I'm not a warrior- I just graduated high school and I haven't even started looking at colleges yet-."

He didn't understand half of what she said but her denial of being a warrior was clear. He growled at her, cutting off her rambling mid-stream. He removed the severed finger and tongue he had cut off the first alien from his belt and held them out to her. They were the trophies of her kill.

Elaina stared at the gross appendages trying to understand why he was shoving them in her face. Thankfully they hadn't started to smell or otherwise she would have thrown up all over him. Ci'tde waved them at her again, repeating the word for Blood Warrior.

Her eyes widened as his meaning dawned on her. "Oh- oh no wait a minute," she argued. "That was by accident. I mean- I didn't exactly take it one on one you know, it was busy trying to kill you, so isn't that like cheating, or something?" She stared at the tip of the finger he was holding towards her, her eyes going slightly cross eyed as she followed its path towards her face. It was glowing slightly from the blood it had been dipped into. "I don't think this is such a good idea-" she said while back pedaling away from him.

Ci'tde ignored her and instead advanced on her retreating form. He cornered her against a wall, leaving her with nowhere to escape.

Holding her hands up in one more desperate attempt to stop him she shouted in a panic as the tip came within inches of her face, "Wait, wait, wait-"

Ci'tde sighed, his tusks clicking together in agitation. He growled low beneath his breath as he stared down at her. Elaina looked from the finger he held in his hand to his face. She found no understanding or compassion in his expression but that did not stop her from trying anyway.

"Don't I have any say in this," she asked him, desperate to find any possible way to get out of this. She wasn't exactly one for pain. There was a reason why she had no piercings or tattoos on her body, despite all her talk about getting one eventually. Really it was all talk, because no matter how much she wanted to rebel against her parents, she just could not stand the idea of sticking a needle in her body or causing intentional pain to herself. Now she had no choice in the matter? _What the hell?_

"H'ko," he growled out with a shake of his head dashing away the last of her hopes of getting out of this unscathed. She was really starting to dislike that word, despite how cool it sounded when he said it.

Ci'tde adjusted his grip on the finger he held, giving her a choice of where he would put it. Elaina turned her head away from the approaching claw and squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation of pain. Her hands tightened into fists at the sound of searing skin and her teeth clenched tightly against the pain. He copied the marking he had inflicted on himself, only this time placing it on the side of her forehead just above the corner of her left eyebrow.

When he was done, Ci'tde appraised the mark, his eyes shining with approval. Elaina slowly opened her eyes as the searing pain faded into a dull ache. She peeked up at her companion to find him smiling down at her. _Okay I'm never going to get used to that look._

"Are we done," she grounded out, while crossing her arms over her chest. As if she wasn't hurting enough, now she had been branded and on her face of all places. How the hell was she going to explain that one to her parents?

Ci'tde nodded and replaced the finger back onto his belt. He made sure to secure his trophy as well as hers, before retrieving his mask and placing it back on over his face. He pulled up the image of the pyramid and pointed at what appeared to be the exit out of this hell hole.

"You mean we're leaving?" she asked him hopefully.

"Sei-i," he said with a nod.

"Bout damn time," she muttered in response then remembering her backpack held up a hand for him to wait. "Hold on one minute though."

She turned around, her eyes searching in vain for her bag. To her surprise though, Ci'tde bent down on the other side of the alien and lifted her backpack up and held it out to her.

"Thanks," she said with real gratitude. She had no idea when she had lost the thing, but was grateful to have it back. Setting the backpack down on the ground, she studied the ruined straps momentarily. "Well this thing's useless."

Elaina pursed her lips together in slight annoyance at this realization. Opening her bag, she riffled around inside searching for her bag of candy among the other items she had packed. Opening the Ziploc bag, she took out a couple different candy bars and stuffed them into the pockets of her pants and coat.

"I'll be able to move a lot quicker without this damn thing on anyway," she added to help elevate her mood. She hated the idea of leaving it behind as it probably had saved her life when she fell from the trap door but she had no way of bringing it with her without it slowing her down. She would just have to live without last month's issue of Cosmo and the spare clothes she packed in it. She just really wanted to get the hell out of this place. "Alright I'm ready, lead the way Celtic."

She stood just behind the Yautja, her hands adjusting their grip on the spear nervously. She shuffled her weight from one foot to the other then lifted her gaze to him. He nodded at her and started forward. This time, Elaina didn't pause but was quick to follow him.

Ci'tde kept the map open on his wrist guard, following the diagram that led them to the only opening in the room. Out in the corridor beyond, Elaina was relieved that she could see as the walls were closer to her and she didn't feel like there was something out there lurking in the darkness. Instead her eyes trained on Ci'tde back, watching the way his muscles flexed and quivered with each step he took.

It was oddly quiet not even a hiss or currying sound could be heard. A part of her was grateful for the reprieve while another was worried as to where all of the alien's had gone to.

Ci'tde picked up his pace now and lightly jogging down the corridor, following it is twisted and turned. Elaina was forced to keep pace, nearly having to run to keep up with his larger gait.

The map was leading them along, showing them a direct path out of here and Elaina could feel hope spark within her chest. _We're leaving. We are finally leaving this place._

If she wasn't so afraid she would shout it at the top of her lungs.

They had reached a set of stairs when the walls of the pyramid shook with such a force, that even Ci'tde nearly lost his footing. Elaina paused in the aftermath of the shake, her eyes wide as she stared at the walls. Ci'tde tilted his head slightly, straining to pin point the origin of the quake.

A startled yelp escaped her, as the pyramid shook again, dust and dirt kicking up from the stone flooring at their feet.

"Is that the pyramid shifting again," Elaina asked and her eyes finally dragged away from the walls to look at Ci'tde for answers. The pyramid hadn't shifted for a long while and she wondered if maybe it had finally decided to settle down. But then, what was causing the Quake?

Elaina's question was answered when a loud screech echoed behind them, followed by another shudder from the pyramid as something large shook the very foundation of it. Elaina's eyes widened in alarm.

"Oh my god what the hell was that?"

* * *

**AN: Hello everyone! Sorry this chapter is short.. It was originally longer but I wanted to half it as a lot happens between this chapter and the next and I didn't want to overwhelm everyone with all that is going to happen next. As you may have noticed the end is near... but it is not permanent. This story is only part one of three. There is much more to come for our pair in the future stories I promise you this :)**

**Yautja words:**

**"Kv'var mei-jadhi- Hunt Sister**

**Yeyin- Brave**

**Ooman- Human slang term**

**H'ko- No**

**Sei-i- yes**

**Thwei'de-sain'ja- Blooded Warrior**

**If I missed any just let me know and I will go back and add it ^^**

**I want to thank all of you that reviewed you all are truly inspiring :) I hope all of you have a wonderful Independence day. Happy Holidays, early from-**

**Inky out.**


	12. Chapter Eleven

Chapter eleven_**:**_

_**Bouvetoya Island  
Unknown Room Deep Within the Pyramid  
October 11th 2004**_

Elaina dragged her eyes away from the walls around them once she realized the pyramid was not shifting. They fell on the tall hulking figure consulting his map with an intense stare. Ci'tde used his finger to follow some path along the holographic image. Elaina watched as his finger followed the path till it stopped at the little dots that seemed to indicate where they stood in the pyramid. Ci'tde turned his gaze away from the image at last to look at the passageway behind them.

"What's wrong," she whispered, her heart lurching inside her chest. Even with his mask on, she could see the tension rolling off him in waves. His body was tense, one fist at his side clenched tightly as if he expected something to happen.

Elaina yelped at the sound of an alarm going off on his wrist guard. Her startled gaze flew to the image flashing across the screen. There was a strange beeping sound, much like the sound her alarm clock would make to wake her up for school in the morning. On the screen, strange symbols appeared and began to flash in some kind of sequence.

"Okay what is that," Elaina asked, her eyes watching the strange symbols changing rapidly. If anything it looked like it was counting down as the symbols got smaller and smaller with each second that went by.

Ci'tde ignored her question, like usual and instead began typing away at the screen. He grunted beneath his breath typing away at the buttons only to get frustrated.

"Pauk," he growled.

Elaina's eyes widened at his statement. If she didn't know any better she would have thought he said the F word. _But that can't be right,_ she thought to herself a little worried. But then, she knew the F word in four different languages herself- so.

She was torn from her thoughts, when suddenly Ci'tde grabbed her around the waist and unceremoniously threw her over his shoulder in a fireman carry. A small startled squeak of surprise escaped her, and it took everything she had to hold onto her spear as he started to run. It was like back in that corridor where the walls had been closing in around them. He ran with a speed and agility that belied his bulk. He was a track runner under all that muscle and weight. The walls around her blurred and she squirmed in his hold as his shoulder dug harshly into her stomach. All the jostling wasn't helping the pain in her ribs.

Ci'tde took a sharp right and Elaina recognized the wide open corridor as the entrance she had taken to get into the pyramid.

"Oh my god, we're almost-" she was cut off by a loud screech that came from down the passageway behind them.

Elaina turned her head to look behind them to see the largest alien she had ever seen running towards them. This thing was nearly as tall as a house, with a large crowned head and a spindly black body. The thing was racing towards them, with at least six normal sized aliens following close behind it.

"Celtic," she called his name and tapped at his shoulder to get his attention.

Either he didn't notice or he ignored her all together and instead kept running. Elaina felt irritation as well as panic swell up inside her and she tried again to get his attention.

"Celtic!" she shouted again as the large alien was quickly catching up to them. She started hitting his shoulder trying to get his attention. "There-there is a really- a really-big one, its right behind us- Celtic!"

The large alien was right behind them now and Elaina sucked in a sharp breath as the alien ducked its head as if to ram into them. "Celtic!" she screamed his name just as they had reached the opening of the pyramid.

Beneath her she could feel his muscles coil tightly and suddenly he threw them to the side of the opening. The large alien screeched, swiping out with its tail and it sliced through the air above them, narrowly avoiding them as they crashed into the ground. Elaina cried out startled as they slammed into the pyramid steps, Ci'tde's body sliding down a few before coming to a stop. The large alien didn't go after them, but instead raced down the stairs heading straight for the tunnel that lead to the surface.

Elaina lifted her head to stare into Ci'tde's mask, noting once again he had taken the brunt of the fall. This time though, he didn't allow her time to adjust, but was already forcing them to get up. Elaina scrambled back from the Yautja, dusting herself off and realizing she had dropped her spear. She spotted it a few feet from her she must have dropped it when they hit the ground. Elaina retrieved the spear her eyes tracking after the aliens as they made their way to the tunnel after the larger one.

"Oh god," she whispered. "What do we do? Celtic, what do we do?"

"Dtai'k-dte sa-de nau'gkon dtain'aun bpi-de," he growled out in response to her question and started running down the stairs after the aliens.

Elaina stared after him, her head tilting to the side in her confusion. _What the hell did that mean,_ she wondered. Seeing him reach the bottom steps of the pyramid, Elaina panicked as he was leaving her behind and showed no evidence of stopping to wait for her. "Dammit," she cursed beneath her breath and ran after him. Running down the steps of the pyramid was a hell of a lot easier than running up them had been. She made it to the bottom and found herself only just slightly winded from the pace she had been going to catch up to him.

Ci'tde was already halfway to the tunnel, which let no time for Elaina to take a break. As she started running across the snow to catch up, one of the smaller aliens leapt from behind some crates towards her.

Yelping she threw herself forward, narrowly avoiding behind tackled by the creature. Scrambling to her feet she booked it across the frozen ground reaching Ci'tde as he finally came to a stop when he heard her cry out. Ci'tde shoved her behind him before facing the attacking alien. Elaina was knocked off her feet from the shove and she quickly dove behind some crates, scrambling on her hands and knees to peek out from behind them to watch.

The black alien screeched, slicing its tail through the air. Ci'tde grabbed the offending appendage and spun in a circle, dragging the screeching alien with him. He let go and sent it flying away. Another alien tackled him from the side, sending him face first into the snow and knocking away his gun making it useless as it crashed into one of the yellow supply crates near where she was hiding.

Climbing out of her hiding place, Elaina adjusted her grip on the spear holding it much like a baseball bat as she ran at the attacking alien. It was too busy poising itself to stab Ci'tde with its tail that it didn't hear her running up behind it in the snow. She swung as hard as she could, using the length of the spear as her weapon instead of the sharp end of it. The spear slammed against the side of the alien's head knocking it off of Ci'tde's back. The impact jarred Elaina to point that she bit her tongue when she clenched her teeth in reaction.

With the alien off of him, Ci'tde climbed to his feet and grabbed his spear that he had dropped when he was tackled. He swiftly killed the stunned alien with one quick jab to its head.

An echoing roar had Elaina stiffening in fear, her eyes widening as she stared at the dead alien. Her hands nearly lost their hold on the spear she had been holding onto with a death grip. The roar was so much like the one that had terrified her into running into the pyramid before that she nearly took off running this time. That's not possible, she tried to reason. He's dead, I know he's dead I saw his body.

The only thing that kept her grounded was the strong presence of Ci'tde standing close enough that she could feel his body heat warming her side.

Carefully, Elaina lifted her eyes from the dead alien to look across the frozen cave to find another Yautja. While still impressively tall and muscular, he wasn't nearly as tall as Ci'tde. There's a third one, she realized taking in his coloring and the style of his mask. Unlike Ci'tde's mask this one's was sleek and all smooth edges. Still terrifying to look at but she wasn't nearly afraid of him as the alien that was attached to his back and the long tail sticking out of his left shoulder. Neon green blood sprayed across the white snow, a harsh contrast to the brilliant white background.

"Hey freak!"

Elaina turned her startled eyes to the expedition guide as she shot something into the Alien's skull killing it and allowing the Yautja to knock it off his back before its acidic blood could do its damage.

Lex dropped the weapon as something on the sled at the mouth of the tunnel began to beep. "We need to get the fuck out of here!" she shouted at them.

Elaina nodded her head in jerky movements and hurried to the woman's side. She was in shock to see the woman still alive. She had started to believe that everyone else was dead until now. Since running into Ci'tde she hadn't seen or heard any other humans down in the pyramid. When Ci'tde told her the human that he had gotten he gun from was dead, she had really started to believe everyone else was dead as well.

Lex entered some kind of passcode to the sled, her hands only slightly trembling as she tried to type in the right keys. Ci'tde appeared next to Elaina. He seemed to understand the need for urgency, as he took her spear from her shrunk it to its smaller size and strapped it to his belt next to his.

"Got it," Lex called out as the screen flashed accepting the code. "Let's go-" the older woman had barely gotten the words out of her mouth before the smaller Yautja had grabbed her around the waist and jumped up onto the sled securing them a spot on it.

Before Elaina could make the rational decision to follow in their stead, Ci'tde had grabbed her about the waist and tossed her up onto the sled without so much as a warning. She landed with an oomph, her hands scrambling to grab the railing at the top to keep her on it, when Ci'tde leapt up after her and secured himself to the right side of her. The sled started moving then, gradually picking up speed as it climbed higher and higher up the tunnel.

The higher they climbed the faster the sled moved. Around her, the icy wind swept back her hair and bit at her cheeks. Her eyes began to sting as she struggled to keep them open. The grip she had on the railing grew weaker the longer she tried to hold on for and her gloves where not making it any easier.

Suddenly an explosion from deep within the tunnel had the sled bouncing roughly against the tunnels wall. From deep within the tunnel, scorching heat and black smoke chased up the tunnel after them, quickly gaining ground to wear she could feel the heat of the flames through the sole of her boots.

"Oh god," Elaina cried out, her grip on the railing slipping. "I'm slipping," she cried out. "I'm slipping!"

The rail slipped free from her gloved hands and she started to slide back down the sled. Her eyes widened briefly and for one split second she was positive she had had died as her vision when black and she felt her heart stop. Then as quickly as the feeling came, she was jolted back to life when her fall was shortened by Ci'tde grabbing the front of her coat and she stopped falling. Elaina's eyes popped open and she suddenly found herself being hauled back up to the railing. Her hands latched onto the metal bar, swearing she would never let it go ever again. Ci'tde adjust his grip on her so that his body shielded hers, pressing her down into the sled to keep her immobile.

The sled flew up and out of the opening of the tunnel. It broke free from the explosion and narrowly avoided the rising flames as it sailed through the air. Elaina and Lex cried out as another explosion rocked the earth behind them and an even larger flame burst out of the mouth of the tunnel. The sled landed roughly in the snow sliding a couple yards from the wooden ramp and the four of them were thrown free.

Elaina found herself tossed forward and she slammed into the snow her small body rolling to a stop. As she lifted her head, the world spun dangerously around her. Hearing the sound of ice cracking though had her dragging herself to her feet and trying to get the world to stop moving.

"Run!" Lex shouted at her.

Elaina barely had time to wonder where she should run, when Lex was suddenly there grabbing her hand and forcing her to move.

Elaina ran, with her heart pounding in her chest and her lungs laboring under the strain. Another explosion threw her forward and she was thrown face first into the snow. Despite the great want to just lay there and give in, someone helped her back up and she was running again. Lex had her by the hand dragging her on, forcing her to run until finally she was running on her own. The four of them ran, dodging the collapsing buildings that fell around them trying to out run the explosion. Behind them, the ground crumbled away as the fire and smoke ate up the ground at their feet.

"Oh god," Elaina panted, feeling the ground at her heels falling away.

She was barely keeping ahead of the explosion. In front of them the ground broke apart, disappearing completely. Lex and the other Yautja jumped, having run ahead of her and Ci'tde. The pair leaped, making the jump but just barely. There was no way she could make it. She was not a jumper, there was just no way.

A hand around her arm had Elaina lifting her head to stare at Ci'tde. His grip was firm and as they reached the edge, he dug his feet in, while bending his knees and threw them across the gaping hole. Elaina found herself flung from his grasp as his momentum propelled her across the gaping hole. She hit the snow hard and landed in a heap a few feet ahead of the group. Ci'tde landed on his knees near the edge, falling forward onto his hands as he steadied himself and caught his breath.

Elaina rolled herself onto her back and for one brief moment, felt like her heart had stopped beating. Then she drew in a shuddering breath, the edges of her vision clearing away the darkness as her heart slammed hard against her rib cage. She lay there, barely moving and finding it increasingly difficult to breathe.

"Elaina!" Lex shouted, running towards her. The Guide fell to her knees next to her. "Are you okay, Elaina, Elaina can you hear me?"

Elaina blinked slowly, her eyes suddenly seeing the other woman hovering over her. She blinked again and nodded her head. "Are we alive?" she croaked, her throat really dry and her mouth feeling like it was full of cotton balls. Her body was blessedly numb of all the pain.

Lex nodded her head. "Oh thank god you're alright," Lex said as she gathered the smaller girl up into her arms and hugged her desperately. Elaina was a little alarmed by the older woman's emotions, but didn't try to pull away from the comfort. It was nice to be held and comforted and for one moment she felt safe.

It took Lex a good long minute to get herself together, before she pulled away from the hug. She held the small girl by the shoulders and gave her, her sternest look. "Just what the hell were you doing down there?"

Elaina stared at the other woman, completely at a loss for words. She looked to Ci'tde and the other Yautja to find them a few feet away. Ci'tde had place a hand on the smaller one's shoulder and shook him roughly in greeting. The smaller Yautja greeted him back in the exact same way.

_Must be a guy thing,_ she figured. It seemed kind of brutal in her opinion, but then what the hell did she know? Tearing her eyes away from the two Yautjas she turned them back to Lex. Where did she begin to explain what had happened to for the last twenty-four hours?

The snow covered background was a harsh contrast to the darkness of Lex's face that hovered above her. "I-" she started but found her words lodged in her throat. Just beyond Lex's face she could see what had once been a Whaling Station. Most of it laid in ruins, the buildings having collapsed from the blast.

Her brows furrowed together, her eyes darting around the barren landscape. "Wait," she said suddenly, swallowing past the lump in her throat. If Lex was okay, then her dad had to be here somewhere right? And what about Max and the rest of the expedition team, did they make it out okay too? "Where's my dad- and Max? Where is everyone?"

Elaina looked over at the woman still holding her by the shoulders when she didn't answer her questions. Lex's grip seemed to tighten involuntarily and Elaina was a little worried by the look that flittered within the woman's eyes. _Why does she look so sad? _Then she noticed that Lex was shaking her head at her. _What is that supposed to mean? Why is she shaking her head no at me?_

"I'm so sorry Elaina," the other woman whispered, her words coming out hoarse. There were tears in her eyes and Elaina could see the pain and grief there.

_No._

Realization dawned on her then.

Elaina didn't realize her hands had begun to shake. Her dad was gone? _Everyone is just- gone?_ She turned her head to look at the devastating crater that had once been a part of the Whaling Station. The pyramid was gone, if it hadn't been completely liquefied by the blast, it was now buried under thousands of pounds of snow and debris.

"They're all dead-" she whispered, letting the notion settle over her like a bucket of ice water. There was no way anyone would have been able to survive that blast, had they even managed to survive the aliens.

Ci'tde lifted his head to look at his female. The sound of her voice was distressful and it drew his attention away from his hunt brother. She was huddled in the snow with her arms wrapped around herself and her hands fisted around her jacket in a desperate grip. She appeared to be in a daze, her eyes staring at the snow with a vacant expression on her face. He tilted his head to the side, as he felt his attention being pulled away from Skl're's tale of his Chiva. He took a step towards the small female, finding himself worried about her. She was shaking as if cold.

"Mei'hswei," his brother called him to a stop. They stood together in the snow watching the two females. His female buried her face against her knees, a low keening noise escaping her as she rocked back and forth.

"What is she doing," Ci'tde asked his brother, having never seen this behavior before. There was liquid leaking from her eyes again but the sounds she made were something similar to a dying animal. Ci'tde changed the spectrums in his visor, to infrared trying to understand what was wrong with his female. He watched as while some parts of her body were getting dangerously cold, other parts of her body were burning at hot temperature.

Lex pulled Elaina into her arms, trying to comfort the girl over what she had lost. Losing a father was tough. She knew that from her own experiences how hard it was to lose a loved one so suddenly. But Elaina hadn't just lost her father. She knew the younger woman had a close relationship with her bodyguard and that Max guy. She had lost three people with whom she was close to, all in one day and all in a very violent manner.

An anguished cry ripped itself from Elaina's throat. Her body was racked with sobs as she clutched Lex to her desperately. Oh god, oh my god. A low moan escaped her as scalding hot tears poured from her closed eyes. They were gone. They were all gone. Her mind played over and over the last things she had said to her father. The terrible things she had said because she was so mad at him. Of the horrible way she had treated Terminator and Max on the way to the pyramid. She cried and cried, the words I'm sorry I'm sorry, flowing from her mouth in a jumble of words because she couldn't say them fast enough.

It was a long time before the tears dried up and she felt completely drained and numb inside. Her throat felt raw while her lips felt chapped and were bleeding a little from the bitter cold. Her head lay against the top of her knees, her eyes not really seeing anything in front of her. She could no longer feel the cold, as her body had gone numb and empty inside. Elaina recalled the last memory she had of her father. He was getting strapped into the harness that would lower him down the tunnel with the rest of the team. He had looked so energetic. She couldn't remember any other time that he had looked so- _young_.

Tears filled her eyes as she thought about all the hateful things she had said to him. Had she even told him she loved him? Had she even said goodbye.

"Oh god," she whispered and lowered her face into her hands once more.

She cried, for the first time since this nightmare began, Elaina allowed the tears to really fall and take control of her emotions. Sobs shook her shoulders as she cried for the father she had lost and never really had. Not just because he had never been there but because she had never given him a second chance.

"Give her some room," Lex whispered as reluctantly got to her feet and stepped away from the huddled teen. She tried to follow her own advice when all she wanted to do was give the girl comfort. It took all of her strength to step away from the sobbing girl and approach the Yautjas, holding up her arms in hopes of herding them away. She wanted to give Elaina some time to grieve for her loss before they would need to try and find a way off this Island.

Ci'tde stared at the older female, watching the way she tried to herd them away from his female. He turned his attention to watch Elaina, finding her huddled into a small vulnerable ball in the snow. Grunting in annoyance, she ignored the female's order and instead pushed passed the guide to approach his female. There was something really wrong with her he realized as he drew near her. He had never seen liquid pour from the eyes like this before and knew that it couldn't be a good sign. He knelt down in front of her and reaching up with one hand, he touched her cheek. His talon caught a single tear.

Elaina hiccupped back a sob as she looked up, startled to see him there. She stared at him, her flushed cheeks cooling in the cold as her tears started to freeze against her skin. She hardly noticed the pain though, her body too numb from sitting in the snow for so long. She wondered if she appeared blue in his vision. She felt nothing but the deep ache in her heart and the stinging cold of the wind drying her tears.

"Celtic," she murmured his name with her teeth chattering together.

She quickly wiped at the tears and snot with the sleeve of her jacket. Hiding the evidence of her crying didn't stop the burning in her eyes or the ache in her heart but she managed to rein in the tears for now at least.

"Sorry," she muttered looking away from his mask because she couldn't bear for him to see her like this. "I probably look really pathetic right now." Her tone was bitter and she could feel the rise of emotions threatening to spill out of her again. She swallowed thickly, forcing it back.

"Some blooded warrior I turned out to be," she said with a sniffle and more tears filled her eyes at the thought.

Ci'tde did not understand her words that much, but he could sense sadness from her tone. Something had upset his female, and he did not understand what, but her words made no sense to him. Ci'tde reached up and gripped her shoulder in a firm hold and shook it roughly, like he had done down in the pyramid. The move jostled her and she turned her head to look at him in surprise.

"Thar'n-da s' yin'tekai," he trilled at her. "Yeyinde."

Elaina stared up at him confused. She really didn't understand his language but the way he gripped her shoulder as if to reassure her was enough to make her feel a little better. She thought about the brother or friend he had to leave behind in the pyramid. He hadn't really been given the chance to say goodbye either, she realized.

"Thanks Celtic," she whispered. She bit her bottom lip, looking up at him and her eyes studied the angles of his mask and the eye sockets he looked through to stare down at her. Gratitude warmed her from the inside out and the feels that suddenly overwhelmed her while in his presence thawed her frozen body enough to allow her to move.

Without any warning, Elaina reached up with her arms and hugged him, startling him some by the sudden gesture as he stumbled forward with her sudden added weight. He might have flattened her with his bulk had he not been quick enough to brace himself with his hands. Ci'tde stiffed above her, unsure what he should do as she gripped him around the neck and held on firmly. He didn't think she was going to let him go as time passed and she made not move to release him.

Elaina's eyes popped open from where she had squeezed them shut while hugging him. Her face was pressed into his shoulder and the feel of his body heat had her skin defrosting in no time at all. He was just so warm she didn't want to let him go. But then she realized how stiff he was hovering over her and he was not hugging her back. Mortified by what she was doing, Elaina pulled back, her arms releasing him suddenly. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes not able to look at him as embarrassment had her flustered.

Now that she was no longer holding him in place, Ci'tde leaned back away sitting in a crouched position next to her. He studied the heat in her face and cocked his head to the side. He did not understand this female at all.

Clearing her throat with a cough, Elaina looked off to the side to see Lex standing with Skl're. The other one had removed his mask and was in the process of marking Lex like Ci'tde had done to her. Ci'tde followed her stare to see his hunt brother marking the older female with their clan's symbol. It reminded him of his female's bravery in the room with the hard meats. She had proved to him that she had great Strength and honor for an Ooman.

"You guys are a bunch of freaks," Elaina muttered, a small watery smile working its way onto her face. She looked from the pair to look at Ci'tde. He was also watching the pair and if the low purr coming from him was anything to go by she would say he seemed pleased. At her words, he turned his attention to her and she Elaina quickly looked away as another blush heated her cheeks. Why did he always have to stare?

Trying not to dwell on what he could be thinking about while he purred at her and she tried to ignore the strange feeling the sound seemed to have on her. Clearing her throat once more, she shifted in her seated position in the snow. Something crinkled in her pocket and drew her attention away from the hovering Yautja in front of her. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a slightly smashed Twix bar. She had forgotten all about the candy she had stashed into her pockets earlier. At the sight of the chocolate treat, her stomach growled, reminding her she hadn't eaten much in the last twenty-four hours. And she could really use a chocolate fix.

From his crouched position, Ci'tde abruptly sat down in front of her, eyeing the candy greedily. Seeing the look, Elaina sighed and reached into her pocket to pull out a Reese's Cup. She tossed him the candy, before tearing into hers and taking a small bite.

While she savored the flavors in her mouth, she watched as Ci'tde removed his mask and opened the candy wrapper. Between his thumb and index finger he looked at the candy with a furrow brow. He obviously realized this was not the same thing he had been given earlier.

"It's good I promise," she said with a small mischievous smile.

"Promise," her word echoed back to her in his gravelly voice.

_Wow._ _He's actually learning some English words_, she realized with surprise. Dang, h_e's a quick learner. _ She wondered if that meant he expected her to learn some of his words as well. _Yea right, maybe if I ever grow a set of mandibles- not._

Ci'tde stuck the whole Reese's cup into his mouth and began to chew. Elaina watched him, having paused momentarily in her meal to gauge his reaction with the candy. She soon burst into laughter as he struggled to work the peanut butter off the roof of his mouth with his tongue and failing miserably. Her body shook with her laughter, as she struggled to try and breathe. It was just too damn funny.

"Oh god," she gasped, her hands going around her middle as it began to ache. Her lungs were starting to burn as breathing became increasingly difficult the longer she laughed.

Ci'tde managed to get the peanut butter off the roof of his mouth and swallowed it before it could cause him any more issues. He growled at her in warning as she continued to laugh at him. When that didn't seem to sober her up, he tried a different method. Ci'tde smacked her on the back and nearly face planted her into the snow from the force of the blow.

"Okay, okay," she gasped out finally able to draw in a breath of air. She fought hard to stop her laughing fit and hid it by coughing harshly into the crook of her arm. "Sorry Celtic."

It took her a moment to get herself back under control. Leaning back in the snow, she looked up to find Lex and Skl're standing over them looking at them curiously. Elaina waved a hand to offer them a place to sit, which they did quickly. Lex sat with her, while Skl're took a seat near Ci'tde.

It seemed crazy that they were all sitting out in the snow, taking a chance of getting hypothermia or frostbite. But with the two Yautja sitting so close, she almost couldn't feel the cold anymore and her numb limbs were already beginning to thaw. Turning her attention to the two males, she watched them as they picked up on their conversation from before.

Lex sat with her silently, watching them with amazement. Reaching into her other pocket, Elaina handed Lex her last two candy bars. She might not like the woman but she had saved her life and she helped them get out of that cave.

"Here, it's all I have left," she offered the candies to her.

"Thanks," Lex said and handed one over to Skl're.

"What's his name," Elaina asked Lex, curious to know if they were close like she and Ci'tde had slightly become. There had to be some kind of bond, if he had marked her with the blooded mark like Ci'tde had done to her.

"His name," Lex echoed the question and turned her gaze to the Yautja in question.

Elaina followed her gaze to Skl're, who was now staring at the candy with a curious stare. He was turning it over in his hands eyeing it warily. He looked over at Lex who had opened her Twix bar and was taking a bite of it.

"A name," Lex repeated and looked over at the Yautja again with a thoughtful expression. "Well I've just been calling him Scar. I can't tell whether he understands our language or not though, but I wouldn't even begin to try speaking his or trying to understand it."

Elaina nodded knowingly. She watched as Skl're opened the candy wrapper like Lex had and stuffed the candy into his mouth. She smirked and looked over at Ci'tde to find him glaring at the smaller Yautja. He had tucked his mandibles in close to his mouth as his forehead furrowed. Elaina snickered behind her hand and when Skl're spat the candy back out, making a disgusted sound, she burst into laughter at his expression. Once she contained herself again she struggled to look mad.

"Hey you just wasted perfectly good chocolate," she shouted in mock anger.

Okay, so maybe sweets weren't something in their normal diet? _With teeth like those-_ She couldn't exactly imagine them going around eating cupcakes and ice cream.

Skl're made a face as the taste from the candy bar wouldn't go away. "Gross," he growled out in English.

Next to him, Ci'tde made a slight huffing noise, catching the group's attention. Looking over at him, Elaina moved to get up to see if maybe he was choking. "Celtic are you okay," she asked worried.

Ci'tde's shoulders began to shake with such a force that his whole body shook. She jerked back in surprise, not sure what to expect. It was definitely not something she had expected from someone like him. His arms came around his middle as the noise he made grew louder and more boisterous.

"Oh my god," Elaina said, falling back down on her rear in the snow. "He's laughing." Sure she's seen him chuckle at her, tease her a bit but not break out into full blown laughter. It was kind of a terrifying sight she had to admit to herself.

Elaina looked over to see Skl're glowering at Ci'tde, with his arms crossed over his chest. Lex bumped her shoulder, a small smile playing on her lips. Elaina looked over at the older woman sitting next to her with a worried expression on her face.

"They're acting like two juveniles," Lex commented with a laugh.

Elaina turned back to the pair of Yautja's and had to admit they did seem kind of childish. Their antics put her in the mind of siblings teasing one another.

"Oh my god they-" her voice was cut off by a loud cracking noise coming from the crater. "What was that?"

The startled group looked up when there was a small explosion from what used to be the old whaling station, not even twenty yards from where they all sat. Snow and pieces of wood shot up into the air as a thin black arm broke free from the ice soon followed by a second arm. Slowly a large crowned head surfaced and the large alien from the pyramid pulled itself free from its tomb.

Once on the surface it stood to its full height and screeched its outrage.

* * *

**AN: Hey everyone! Guess what the story is just about over! Can you believe it? I sure cant. I love this story and yes I know I am biased because I wrote the darn thing, but I think I did pretty good for my first AVP story. I know I can do better and I plan to go back and edit the story once its all up because I can never find my spelling or grammar to be good enough.**

**Thank you all for the lovely reviews and because of all those reviews I am updating this early, compared to my last several chapters. But you all are wonderful, because reviews are food for the soul and right now mine is feeling ravenous and enjoying everyone I get!**

**I do want to answer some questions some of you had.**

**The prologue date and the chapter it originates from are different for a reason. In the prologue, Elaina has no idea where she is, what day it actually is. its just a teaser, not even really part of the story as in it, she has no memory of what's happened to her and how she got there. In the actual chapter she at first is confused them remembers as she wakes up from being unconscious. I am sorry about that confusion, I should have explained that a little in the AN for that chapter.**

**And no Celtic doesn't see Elaina as his sister, but as a Hunt sister, much like he would see any Yautja he were to hunt with and feel comfortable enough to trust his life to. Celtic can be a little dense, and he's that way because, he's young immature and just now becoming a man. He's not like the other Yautjas you read about because he hasn't been hunting for centuries and centuries. I don't know how old they are when they go on their Chiva, but I would say around a 100 right? so he's still a young pup learning his way through life. **

**Yautja words:**

**Dtai'k-dte sa-de nau'gkon dtain'aun bpi-de - Fight until the end**

**Pauk- Fuck or some kind of curse word**

**Mei'hswei- brother**

**Thar'n-da s' yin'tekai - Strength and honor**

**Yeyinde - Brave one**

**Alright well I think that is it. I want to thank you all again for the reviews, I really do enjoy reading your comments. **

**Let me know what you think of this cliffhanger, I hope it is to your liking hehe ^^**

**Inky out.**


	13. Chapter Twelve

Chapter twelve:

_**Bouvetoya Island  
Whaling Station  
October 11th 2004**_

"Oh my god it's the Queen," Lex gasped while scrambling to her feet. She pulled Elaina with her, forcing the young girl to get to her feet as they backed away from the approaching alien. It was so much larger than the ones Elaina had the misfortune of running into down in the pyramid. _Why is it so freaking huge?_

"The Queen, are you serious," Elaina whispered back, too afraid to speak any longer in case it would draw the thing's attention to them. Like the smaller ones, which weren't all that small to begin with, this one had no eyes that she could see. Elaina couldn't make out any ears as well on the elongated head but the creature seemed to track them without the senses of hearing or sight.

"Sebastian said she's like the mother of the other aliens," Lex spoke softly back, mimicking Elaina's quite voice. Lex's eyes followed the Queen's movement, watching as it swung its head back and forth as if unsure where they were.

"Pauk," Ci'tde growled out as he extended his spear. He stood with Skl're who had withdrawn his favorite weapon of choice, a shuriken. Ci'tde widened his stance readying himself for the fight that was coming.

Elaina placed a hand over the hand that Lex had around her wrist. The woman wouldn't let go of her and her grip was getting a little painful. Lex appeared ready to make a run for it, though Elaina doubted they would get very far. She had seen this thing catch up to Ci'tde as if he had been merely jogging, there was no way they could out run it. Elaina glanced over at Skl're and Ci'tde. They looked ready to take on the Queen and their lack of hesitation had her locking her feet in place. She could feel Lex tugging on her arm, trying to instigate they're retreat but Elaina felt torn in following the guide or staying and helping.

Her instincts were telling her to get the hell out of there and put as much distance between her and the Giant Alien, but her mind and heart were telling her to stay and help Ci'tde. They had survived the pyramid together. She didn't want to abandon him now, not after all that they had been through. Not after all that he had done to make sure she made it out of there alive.

"Lex- let go," she whispered, trying to jerk her arm free from the other woman's grip.

Ci'tde still had her spear, she realized suddenly. It was still attached at his belt and she could really use its reassuring weight in her hands otherwise she would give in to her screaming instincts to save herself.

Lex ignored the request and instead her grip tightened around her wrist reflexively. She pulled Elaina around to face her, her hands sliding up to grab the smaller teen by the shoulders.

"Elaina listen to me," Lex began, her eyes darting to the alien Queen briefly to make sure it hadn't made any move to attack. "You need to get the hell out of here."

Elaina shook her head stubbornly even though a part of her wanted to nod her head yes and take the guide up on her offer.

"Elaina," Lex's voice came out aggravated as she shook the smaller girl. "Find somewhere safe to hide, leave this thing to them alright!"

"No," Elaina snapped out in response. She was not going to leave Ci'tde alone to fight this huge alien. "I'm not going to run away, I can help."

Lex closed her eyes for a moment, drawing in a sharp breath as her temper flared at the younger girl defying her. She released Elaina, her jaw clenching before she lent down to pick up her spear. Her eyes darted to the Queen as its head swiveling to look their way at the movement. But quickly it looked back at the Yautjas that were preparing to charge. It seemed unsure which threat to take out first.

"Don't argue with me," Lex said her voice rising with the seriousness in her tone. Her expression was fierce, the blooded mark on her cheek made her seem even more stern than usual. The look had Elaina taking a step back, startled.

The Queen's head whipped around at them and it screeched. It was the only warning the Queen gave before she suddenly charged them. Lex whipped her head around, and she brought up her spear defensively. She stepped in front of Elaina, the spear clutched in both hands as she readied herself for battle.

A few feet from them, Skl're reacted to the Queen's attack by readying a spear gun that he had strapped to his right wrist. He aimed at the approaching Queen and fired two harpoon-like weapons into the Queen's shoulder, knocking her back a step. The Queen screeched in rage, her voice roaring at the sky above. Using the few seconds the Queen was distracted, Skl're readied a throwing disc and threw it at the Queen slicing open her throat. The weapon returned to him but the Queen swiped her tail at him in retaliation, throwing the Yautja off his feet and he sailed through the air disappearing between two buildings.

"Dammit," Lex cursed beneath her breath as the Queen raced after the fallen Yautja to finish him off. "Elaina get out of here now!"

Lex barely threw the words over her shoulder before she was charging through the snow after the Queen. She raced in between the Queen's legs and thrust her spear up into its exposed neck while it had been kneeling over Skl're, aggravating the open wound already there. Acidic blood sprayed everywhere as the Queen screeched stumbling back. Lex wove around the stumbling Queen, trying to avoid being squashed as the alien staggered back into a burning building.

Lex fought and cursed as her jacket began to bubble from the acid that had splashed across it. She barely managed to get it off as the sweater beneath it began to smoke from the little exposure it had with the acid. She tossed the worthless piece of clothing aside, before turning her attention back to the Queen.

The large alien was struggling to get out of the building while also trying to remove the spear from its neck. Seeing her distracted, Lex hurried over to Skl're who was climbing out of the crates he had been knocked into. He shook his head and roared, his mandibles flaring out as he challenged the Queen to battle.

The Queen managed to climb out of the burning building, knocking the spear free as it returned the challenge with a shriek of its own. Skl're readied his throwing disc and threw it at the large alien. The Queen ducked its head, missing the attack and charged the pair. Finding herself weaponless Lex bolted, heading through some old Whale Bones as she tried to put some distance between her and the furious Queen. The Queen turned, shrieking as it caught sight of Lex trying to make a run for it. Ignoring Skl're, the Queen charged after her.

Seeing the Queen crashing through the bone trying to get to Lex, Elaina found herself taking a couple steps to follow, but Ci'tde stepped in front of her to block her path. He grunted something at her but she couldn't hear it with his mask on and with the wind blowing around them made it impossible.

"What are you doing," Elaina shouted in indignation and she stamped her foot in annoyance. She knew just how helpless she was against the large alien, but that didn't mean she couldn't help.

The sound of Lex shouting had Elaina reacting without really putting much of a plan together. Lunging forward, she grabbed her spear that was still attached to the Yautja's belt and wrenched it free. Ci'tde made to grab her with his hands but she ducked away from him as she raced around him.

_What the hell is Lex thinking?_ She wasn't about to let Lex die. Not like Terminator, not like her father or Max. They all died on this god forsaken barren wasteland, she wasn't about to lose Lex too.

Elaina caught up with the Queen, not by any great feat on her part but because Lex had dove under a water tower and was using it as coverage as the Queen struggled to reach her. The Queen was desperately trying to get to her, bending metal and tearing at the boards to reach her. The alien Queen lashed out with her tail and inner mouth, wanting to tear the woman to pieces.

Finding her courage dwindling as she stood just feet away from the swaying tail of the large Queen, Elaina visibly swallowed. _What the hell am I doing?_ Her fingers tightened around the spear in her hand and its reassuring weight steadied her nerves a little. It hadn't failed her yet. Not allowing her any more time to talk herself out of it, Elaina ran forward. She ducked under the tail as it swept out towards her. It wasn't aiming at her but actually trying to angle itself for another strike as the hole above Lex's head was made bigger by the Queen's talons.

Elaina slipped in between the Queen's legs and thrust the spear up into its gut, at least that is what she hopped she was aiming for. Acidic blood sprayed from the wound causing Elaina to jump back with a yelp. She cried out as the blood splashed across her arm and the acidic content began to eat away at the layer of her light jacket and shirt underneath. Curing beneath her breath, Elaina fell to her hands and knees and buried arm into the snow.

"Damn, damn- damn," she muttered under breath as the sting in her arm started to numb thanks to the snow.

The sound of a roaring challenge had her lifting her head to see Ci'tde charge the Queen. He had his spear out and was paring with her tail as he kept her distracted. Seeing that she was relatively safe, Elaina pulled her arm free of the snow and she fell back on her rear to inspect the damage. She found her blue jacket in tatters, the glove was gone and the top layer of her skin was blistered as if she might have gotten a real nasty sun burn.

"Damn that was close," she muttered her eyes staring in shock at the damage that been done to her in mere seconds. She rolled herself onto her hands and knees, finding her body quivering as the adrenaline in her veins began to dwindle, leaving her feeling light headed and breathless.

"Elaina!" Lex screamed suddenly.

The fear in the older woman's voice had Elaina lifting her head, her eyes rising from the snow she had been staring at while she caught her breath to look at the guild. Lex was still beneath the water tower and her expression mirrored the terror in her voice.

Elaina grunted as pressure in her left shoulder pushed her face first into the snow, her arms giving out on her from the added weight. She barely had time to worry that she might drown or suffocate, as she suddenly found her arms useless, before the pressure in her arms intensified and she found herself jerked backwards out of the snow. It took a moment for her mind to catch up to the knowledge that she was not controlling her own movements. Elaina's eyes widened at the sight of Queen's tail sticking out through her left shoulder. The tip had gone right through skin, muscle and bone as if it had been merely a knife going through softened butter.

Elaina screamed as the Queen lifted her up from her kneeled position in the snow and into the air, her tail tearing at the wound as she was brought her close to the Queen's mouth. Elaina sobbed, scalding tears leaking from her eyes as the terrible pain radiating from her shoulder. Nothing could prepare her from the agony of it.

Elaina's hands were desperately clawing at the tip of the tail trying to relieve some of the pressure on the wound. She was terrified that the tail would tear itself through her collar bone if she didn't do something to keep her weight off of it. Only instead of relieving the pain, her movements only seemed to make it worse. An agonize sob tore itself from her throat and she dropped her arms to hang there uselessly.

The pain made it hard to focus on anything other than it and she could feel her vision blurring at the edges as she was threatening to pass out. The Queen brought her around until she was just a foot away from its face. "Why grandmother what big teeth you have," she whispered deliriously, as the Queen's mouth opened wide. Elaina stared into the open maw to see the inner mouth hiding within.

_I'm going to die_, she realized and strangely a sense of calm settled over her. It numbed the pain enough that her vision cleared at the edges and she could see the Queen's massive alien head hissing in her face. Elaina couldn't explain what calmed her. It could have been that she no longer had to fight a losing and never ending battle anymore. It might have even been the blood loss that had physically and mentally exhausted her to the point that her body hung limp and she no longer had the energy to struggle.

So this was how she was going to die. She had survived the horrors of the pyramid only to die this close to making it off this god forsaken island.

Elaina blinked back the last of her tears and her eyes stared up at the drooling mouth above her. The idea of being eaten wasn't very appealing but she didn't really have much of a choice in the matter anymore. If the Queen waited any longer though, she might just die of blood loss before the Queen ate her.

Movement from behind the Queen, had Elaina focusing her eyes on Skl're as he did a spinning jump in the air above them. Elaina's eyes tracked his movements, her mouth falling open in awe at his flexibility and fluid motion. At the peak of his jump, he threw the spear straight for the Queen's head.

Elaina's eyes narrowed and she turned her gaze over to the Queen's face. At least her death wouldn't be a waste. She was able to help the others after all. And Lex would get off this Island. She could live with that. Or in this case, die peacefully with that knowledge. Glaring at the Queen, Elaina put as much venom and hate into her voice as she whispered, "Fuck you Bitch."

The Queen screeched in reaction to her words and the inner mouth lashed out. Just as it neared Elaina's head, the spear hit its mark, cutting through the side of the Queen's skull. The impact had forced the Queen's head to the right causing the inner mouth to slice across her cheek instead of going through her head. The Queen shrieked, its arms flailing about as it tried to grab at the spear. It stumbled in the snow in its disorientation and its tail whipped around wildly in the air.

The numbing calm was suddenly gone and Elaina Shrieked as the tails wrenched free from her shoulder and she was flung across the snowy landscape. She hit the snow, her body rolling and sliding to a stop a few feet away.

Elaina rolled to her side, heaving up the candy she had eater earlier, the pain causing her to throw up. Weak and shaky she rolled back over onto her back. The snow bit into the wound in her shoulder numbing it to some degree but not entirely enough in her opinion.

From somewhere nearby, she heard Ci'tde roar. Somewhere Ci'tde, Skl're and Lex were still fighting against the Queen. She could just barely hear the shouting, the roaring, and the Queen's screeching over the pounding of her heart.

It sounded like the fighting was miles away from where she laid in the snow. The sound of her heart beating seemed to drown everything out with its erratic thudding against her rib cage. Elaina struggled to sit up, worried about the others, because the Queen wasn't dead yet. She grabbed at her shoulder, fighting back a scream as the wound throbbed with each beat of her heart. It had to be the worst pain she ever felt in her life, nothing could compare to the blinding pain radiating from the open wound.

And then there was the blood.

There was so much blood, everywhere. It had coated her shirt, which was now freezing to her skin around the wound and it soaked the snow around her. She was losing too much blood.

Elaina managed to get to her knees, looking ahead to see Skl're and Ci'tde fighting the Queen near the water tower. The pair worked together effortlessly. Ci'tde who was the larger of the two, drew the Queen's attention to him while Skl're attacked her from behind. It was almost like a game of cat and mouse, each taking a turn at getting a good hit in on the large alien.

Ci'tde threw his shuriken, severing the Queen's neck. The head rolled back on itself, just as Skl're leaped up into the air driving his spear into the top of its skull with enough force that it pierced all the way through its lower jaw.

The Queen stilled and then its massive body crumbled to the ground hard enough that it shook the earth. Ci'tde and Skl're stood panting, staring at the body as if expecting it to get back up for another round. The Queen's body remained motionless much to their relief.

"Help me," Lex shouted to them, drawing their attention to her. Somehow, Lex had tied the chain that had been attached to the Queen to the water tank. She was in the process of trying to loosen the rusted bolts that kept the tank from falling over the ledge.

Skl're and Ci'tde hurried to her side and with their great strength, managed to push against the tower, breaking the last restraint that held it in place. The bolt snapped free and the tank slid forward, before going over the side of the cliff. The Queen's body was dragged behind it. There was a splash as the tank hit the icy water below, followed by the alien Queen. The two disappeared into the dark depths below.

Lex stood at the ledge breathing heavily, her shoulders rising and lowering with each inhale and exhale. Behind her, Ci'tde and Skl're bellowed their triumph over the Queen's death. She smiled at their excited gestures as they cheered.

Then suddenly she remembered Elaina. Her head jerked up and she looked around them. Not seeing what she was looking for, she pushed pass the two large males. Lex searched the snow desperately. Her eyes caught sight of a body laying several yards away from them.

"Elaina," she cried out and started for the fallen girl. Lex fell to her knees next to the body when she saw how much blood had already began to pool around her. "Oh Jesus- oh god-"

Lex stared helplessly, her hands hovering over the girl's body as all of her knowledge at tending to wounds escaped her. She couldn't wrap her mind around on what she was supposed to do. There was just so much blood. Blinking from her stupor, Lex grabbed the zipper on the girl's jacket and slid it undone. Quickly she pulled the girl out of the jacket. To her relief, Elaina moaned in pain when Lex had jostled her arm. If she felt the pain, then wasn't dead yet at least. Taking the jacket, Lex wrapped it around the wound and put pressure on the gaping hole in the girl's shoulder.

A rumbling trill behind her drew Lex's attention to see the larger Yautja hovering over her. He was staring down at Elaina, with a soft purr rumbling from his barrel chest. Skl're stood next to him quietly.

"She needs medical attention," Lex said desperately. She looked between the two Yautjas but neither one reacted as if they understood what she was saying. They remained passive the taller one tilting his head to the side as he stared down at them. She wasn't sure how they could help her but they were her only hope of saving Elaina. "Please or she'll die. Please help her." Lex looked at Skl're, when neither one moved to help.

"Please Scar," she begged him, her voice cracking under the strain of her emotions. "Don't let her die please, you have to save her."

Skl're looked to Ci'tde, who hadn't looked away from Elaina's motionless form. He chuffed beneath his breath, before he approached the two females. As he drew near, Ci'tde took notice and let out a warning growl.

"No harm," Skl're growled out, speaking the human language so that both would understand that he planned to do her no harm. He could see that his brother cared for the female. And while he had no reason of his own to save the small ooman, other than that his honor dictated that he could not let a warrior die like this, he also felt compelled to do so. His human female had saved his life and he felt the need to return the favor.

Hope filled her racing heart. Lex shifted over to allow Skl're room to work but refused to move away entirely. "Thank you," she whispered and was started as tears of relief began to slide down her cheeks.

Skl're nodded to her once and Lex was quick to wipe the tears away before they could freeze to her cheeks.

Skl're knelt down next to Lex and reached into the pack he wore at his side. He removed his medical supplies and set them down next to him. He reached forward and removed the jacket Lex had been using to slow the bleeding. It was a bloody mess as far as he could see. His mask was lost somewhere in the snow and he wasn't able to do a thorough scan of the wound to see the extent of the damage. Skl're took the syringe and filled it with a liquid that would help repair her cells and slow the bleeding. It would cause clotting to form quicker and hopefully slow the bleeding enough that she wouldn't die of blood loss. Skl're inserted the needle into Elaina's arm, close to the wound and injected the liquid.

He ripped away her shirt sleeve to get a better view of the wound as he wiped away the blood with a clean part of the jacket. He managed to clean most of it to see that the blood had slowed but the wound wasn't healing quickly enough. He didn't know how well her biology would react to their medicine. He had never heard of a Yautja trying to save an ooman before. He was more concern what damage the medicine might do to her as she was such a tiny ooman. _No other choice_, he clicked to himself. They had no other way to treat the female's wound other than with his own medical supplies. Taking a tube filled with blue liquid, Skl're removed the cap.

He held the tube over close to her shoulder and slowly the bluish substance poured from the opening and onto the wound. The moment the stuff touched her, Elaina's eyes flew open and her back arched up off the ground. Her mouth opened in a silent scream. Skl're placed a hand on her chest, forcing her back to the ground. He barked out an order to Lex, who quickly moved to put some pressure on the smaller girl's other shoulder to help hold her down.

Elaina screamed long and loud, as Skl're spread the stuff over the wound, smearing it in until it was completely covered. When he was done, she was shaking badly with her chest rising and falling as she panted. Skl're motioned to Lex to help him lift the girl up.

Lex bit her lip, her eyes eying the remaining blue substance in the tube then to Elaina. Reluctantly, she helped pull Elaina into a seated position for him. Lex bit her bottom lip, nearly drawing blood to keep herself from telling him to stop. She knew he was trying to help but seeing the smaller girl in so much pain was too much for her to handle.

"N-no," Elaina argued feebly, her body shaking even worse now. The pain was unbearable. Why were they doing this to her? It felt as if they were ripping her skin off layer by layer. She'd rather still be dangling from the Queen's tail than this. Even still the front of the wound burned as if it had been lit on fire as if she was slowly being roasted over an open flame.

Lex watched with trepidation as Skl're poured more of the substance onto the back side of the hole. This time, Elaina screamed louder, her voice cracking as she screamed and screamed till her voice went hoarse. When he started spreading the substance over the wound, Elaina began fighting them. Skl're held her as still as he could but she managed to hit Lex in the face with her flailing arm.

Cursing beneath her breath, Lex grabbed the girl's arm to help hold her still. Skl're layered the stuff over the wound on her back till it was completely covered before letting her lay back down. He made sure to lay her jacket down first though to keep her off the snow, and keep the wound dry. He then put away the supplies and slowly stood, backing away from them to give the females some room. He did all that he could without a proper medic.

"That's it," Lex asked incredulously and her eyes darted up to the two towering Yautjas. "That's all you can do, with your high-tech fancy weaponry and shit, you just put some paste over the wound and that's going to help-" She cut herself off, biting her bottom lip before she might say something that would piss them off. She knew exactly what these guys were capable of. She forced herself to turn away from them to look back at Elaina.

The teen was pale from blood loss but at least her eyes were open now. Lex placed two fingers over the beating pulse in the girl's neck and was relieved to feel a steady heart beat tapping against her fingertips. Elaina's breathing wasn't as shallow as before but instead her chest rose and fell rapidly as she stared up at Lex.

Elaina's eyes suddenly widened in fear with the pupils dilating till they consumed the iris and Lex looked up sharply to watch as a body materialized before her. This Yautja, made the two behind her appear puny and insignificant. Lex stared, too afraid to even breathe at the giant before her. His appearance gave the impression of royalty. With a red cape billowing out behind him in the wind, the glossy looking armor and the larger skulls that decorated his necklace told her that he was of higher rank. He was definitely older, she could see, as the bristles on his forehead were larger and there were more of them around his exposed face. Some of his appendages were graying and were decorated with intricate rings.

Behind her, Ci'tde and Skl're dropped into a submissive bow. Lex worried if maybe she should do something similar but chose not to leave Elaina alone. The poor girl looked ready to hyperventilate as it was.

The Elder, studied the marked burned into the two ooman female's faces, before turning his attention to the two Yautja's behind them. Out of the three sent on their Chiva, two of them had returned blooded and killed a Queen, which was no small feat even for an aged warrior like himself. He was very pleased with their successful Chiva.

The Elder barked out an order and the two Yautja scrambled from their bowed positions to head to the ship as ordered to.

"W-wait!" Elaina cried meekly, realizing that Ci'tde was leaving, and possibly never coming back. "Celtic," she called after him, crying out as the sudden movement jostled her arm, when she tried to sit up.

Ci'tde hesitated at the ship's entrance, looking back at her from over his shoulder. Skl're had already joined the group waiting inside for them at top of the ramp. Ci'tde didn't dare go to her though. It would be insubordination against the Elder's order to board the ship. Hearing the small female cry out in pain had him turning away from the ship to find her trying to sit up. The other female had gotten to her feet and was hovering over the smaller female as if torn on whether to help her up or force her to lie back down.

Elaina managed to get herself seated, her face scrunched up in pain as she fought the tears that threatened to fall. "D-don't leave," she pleaded with him. She looked passed the Elder, defiantly ignoring him as her eyes beseeched Ci'tde to stay.

Ci'tde looked to the Elder as if to ask him for permission. So far the Elder had remained silent as he watched the scene before him. Surprisingly though, he was not reprimanding Ci'tde for not following orders. He knew the Elder was waiting to see if he would defy him, as he always did in the past. He never gave an order twice. A young blood was expected to follow it without question, without defiance. But Ci'tde wasn't a young blood any more. He was a Blooded Warrior.

Ci'tde squared his shoulders and walked towards Elaina and away from the ship. The barking order of his Elder, made him flinch but Ci'tde had already made his decision. Kneeling down in front of the small female, he steadied her as she struggled to catch her breath. The wound on her shoulder appeared to be hurting her severely.

"Celtic," she muttered, resting her forehead against his chest in relief. She drew in a shuddering breath, finding it hard to breathe as the pain made it hard to focus. "I didn't want you to leave- at least- not until I got a chance-" She lifted her head then to look at him. His mask was gone, having been lost before the battle with the Queen. She didn't even flinch from the sight of him but instead, a small weak smile had the corner of her lips lifting. "I wanted to tell you thank you," she told him softly.

Ci'tde reached up with one talon and touched her red hair, feeling the matted strands against his hide. So different compared to his own tube like hair. Elaina smiled through the pain, her hand coming up to grip his arm for support. "I made it out of that pyramid, because of you- thank you Celtic," she whispered and wrapped her arms around him in a weak attempt at a hug. "I- I'll miss you."

"Elli," he growled her name. Carefully, he removed her arms from around him, taking care of the one that was wounded. He watched her face, seeing how moving her arms caused her pain and he gently set them down in her lap. He patted the top of her head. "N'ghi-ja Elli," he said and slowly stood.

The Elder was looking at him in disapproval but Ci'tde turned back towards the ship and joined his brother inside.

The Elder growled beneath his breath at the lack of discipline, before he turned his attention to the two females. One appeared to have been injured, while the other hovered over her protectively. He didn't approve of marking oomans during a hunt but he had seen them fight against the Queen, with the strength and bravery of a Yautja warrior. He trilled to the pair, trying to ease them. He knew how weak and easily scared female oomans could be.

"Blooded warriors," he growled out. It came out slight gravely and rough, much like Ci'tde's was whenever he tried to speak their language. He bowed his head to them and held out the spear he held in his left hand. With a slight squeeze of his hand the spear shrunk to a smaller size, startling Lex. "Thank you," he trilled.

Lex stared wide eyed, taking the offered spear with her mouth slightly agape. She watched as with an elegant twirl, he spun on his heels, with his cape flying out behind him. He started towards the ship.

Skl're and Ci'tde stood there watching, reluctant to head inside. As the Elder approached the opened bay doors, he barked another order to the two younger Yautjas, making them jump slightly and forcing them to hurry inside. After the Elder climbed into the ship, the door sealed shut and the ship lifted up from the ground.

Elaina clenched her teeth in pain as she craned her neck to follow the ship's movement. She turned her head, watching as the ship lifted up pass the clouds and then disappeared from sight.

They sat there for a long time, listening to the cold wind howl around them. When the cold became too unbearable to ignore, Lex helped Elaina to her feet. With her arm thrown over the other woman's shoulder, they hobbled to the single vehicle still left standing in the aftermath of the blast that had destroyed most of the Whaling station.

Once safe inside, Elaina sat in the passenger seat staring out the window. "Jesus," she whispered, staring at the wreckage. Lex followed her gaze once she got the vehicle started. "What the hell are we going to tell everyone?" Elaina looked over at Lex for an answer.

Lex shrugged her shoulders, not really having an answer. "We sure as hell can't tell them the truth," she answered. She stared at the strange spear she still held in her hand. She shivered, not liking the feel of it. "Here," she muttered and handed the weapon over to Elaina. "I don't really want anything to remind me of this nightmare."

Lex shifted the gearshift, forcing the truck to back up. She managed to get the truck turned around and then they were on their way. The GPS attached to the dashboard was directing them back to the ship, back to civilization. It was barely snowing now with the sky dark but clear. Elaina had her head resting against the glass, her body feeling comfortably numb. The heater was doing a wonderful job of warming her body, and thawing her out, but whatever stuff Skl're had spread over her wound had made the pain bearable.

The two women were silent as they drove across the open landscape. There was nothing but miles and miles of snow ahead of them.

"Hey Lex," Elaina asked after a while of silence. She was recalling what she had wanted to do on the way out to the Whaling Station. "Do you think I could drive?"

Lex looked over at the young teen incredulously. All she saw was the slightly vacant look the girl had as she stared out the window. She knew what the girl was thinking. Swallowing thickly against the lump that had lodged itself in her throat, she looked back out through the window before her. She shifted the gearstick.

"Sure kid," Lex said at last and a small tight smile found its way onto her face. _We're going to be okay,_ she tried to convince herself. "Why the hell not."

The end for now…

Keep a look out for The Hunt Continues.

* * *

**AN: O_O Its over. Oh my god! Kidding. it's not over... not by a long shot. This is only part one. Keep an eye out for part two, The Hunt Continues. Hopefully this story was to your liking, and that everyone isn't too mad with how I ended part one. I love AVP but I hated how all the predators died, I think at least one of them should have lived. And this is how my story was born. I know there wasn't much romance in this story but it's not like there was much time for them to get all hot and heavy with each other. Trust me their time is coming. **

**Let me know what you think. I appreciate the reviews and the feedback. **

**Inky Out**


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